To know about Baud rate would be that you are looking to use UART. You will look for the least amount of error on the Baud rate you take(look for the table on UBRRn. Important to use the same Baud Rate for the microcontroler and your laptop.
What are the 3 operating mode
1. Asynchronous Normal mode;
2. Asynchronous Double Speed mode; and
3. Synchronous Master mode.
Look for the tutorial on UART.
Hope this will help you a little