Backing up/file swapping between PC and Macbook Pro

I poasted this in my 'External Hard Drive' thread I made the other day, but I realised its a bit off topic from that thread so I thought a new thread would be much easier!

So I have been thinking about the whole external hard drive situation (I still don't have my MBP yet but apprently the company I am getting it from have ordered it) and instead of having to deal with 3rd party apps or paying for an app to write to NTFS, I was wondering how easy it would be to network my PC and MBP together?

Would it be easier to just use a LAN cable or through WiFi? I have done some reading and people say its easier to get the Mac to see the PC first.

Would this also allow me to write files to my external hard drive through WiFi/LAN? The external hard drive would still be in NTFS but connected to my PC and the files sent via WiFi/LAN.

If so, does anyone have a guide to set it up so they can see each other and swap files between each other? I haven't done home networking before!

Thanks!