1. You can update to a full account at any time.
2. As far as what has occurred since you last played, ParagonWiki had a Issues Timeline of everything that been added.
3. Yes
As for you laptop, was it able to play it at all? If it's playing, but struggling with the graphics, you can always go into Option in-game and adjust down to where you can at least enjoy playing.
Oh, and welcome back! 
1) Upgrading: You can upgrade at any point during the trial.
2) Info Source: ParagonWiki is the leading player-run source of information for the game.
3) RP server: Virtue remains the unofficial RP server. It is also currently the second most populated server in the game, after Freedom. This is not always a good thing; you may have difficulty connecting during surges in activity such as free reactivation weekends or double XP weekends.
There are RP groups on other servers, so you may wish to consider that. All that said, I'm an RPer and play on Virtue - the momentary inconvenience isn't that off-putting for me, at least.
@Acyl
VIRTUE
Blue: Realpolitik, Leading Lady, Glass Lass, Superball, Alec Kazam
Red: Battery Acid, Obsolete, Bugfix
Thank you very much
Welcome back.
Hey Everyone, just a few questions from a returning player.
1) I started a new account because my email I used for my last one was not retrievable, and I had forgotten the password to get into it. I downloaded the installer to try the trial on my laptop while I am waiting for my Desktop to be built and to see if the laptop could handle it (which it couldn't). My question is once I get the computer built and install the Architects Edition, do I have to wait until after the 14 day trial to start, or can the 14 day trial be updated to full as soon as I install it and enter the code?
2) The last time I played, salvage had just come out. So, it has been a while. Where is the easiest area to glance at what is new and changed since then?
3) Is Virtue still the Unofficial RP server?