From the use-cases you have described, yeah, I would have to concur with Mark & Russell here - go for the desktop version.
You can then install & run whatever server-side applications as you want on this Desktop PC. Want to get your hands dirty by doing most of your stuff in the command line / bash - no worries - you can always bring up the Terminal Emulator ...
For an Ubuntu-based installation that I set up for myself, or for my friends, I often turn on the UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) that usually comes with Ubuntu-based Distros. And, I tend to prefer the GUI-version (GUFW) - which you can easily install via sudo apt install gufw.
After installing the GUFW, I would then switch its status to On, and set the rules (Incoming=Deny, Outgoing=Allow). I find that even with these default settings, I could still run most of my apps, including several of the popular web conferencing out there - e.g. Google Meet, Zoom, BBB, etc. But of course, if you were to play with some of the server applications that are not using the standard ports like http/https, then you may need to tinker a bit with the GUFW firewall rules, or temporarily disabling the UFW altogether.
H.T.H.
Regards,
Wen