What sorts of processors, RAM, video card, etc. should I be looking at? I want to know my best options before I buy something that wouldn't do the job. Should I go Apple or Windows?|||Mac vs. PC eh, well if you don't like tinkering with your computer, learning all about hardware options and admin tasks and just want to be a computer user then the Mac is better choice. If you don't mind being a computer hobbyist, and spending time figuring things out and are trying to minimize your costs then a Windows PC is a better choice.
As for specs, look at the system requirements for the software you're planning to use as a starting point. Editing video is a compute intensive task so you'll want to get as much power as you can afford. The iMac or Mac Pro desktop machines are preferred over laptops.
The system requirements for your software will tell you what you need today, your budget will determine how long the computer you purchase will last. A quad-core CPU iMac with 4Gb RAM and discrete video card will be a good option if you can afford it.|||Any mac pro configuration can handle what you are doing. If you can afford the dual processor 8 core config, it would give you more longevity as things change / upgrade.
If you're getting an older Mac Pro, get as much ram as you can
If you're getting a new mac pro, get memory in banks of 3 to take advantage of triple channel ram.
As you're running a dedicated video card in a mac pro, any will do ok. Personally I'd either look at the 4870 series radeon or the 8800gt (thats the higher end card from the early 08)
I'd probably go cheap on the HD's and just get one apple drive then populate with my own additional drives - HD's are cheap =)
both FCE and FCP will edit HD video and use multiple cores. FCP will give you more flexibility due to its greater set of features and controls. FCP is part of Final Cut Studio which has a lot of wonderful tools in it.
My system config handles 1080i without issue in my current editor (fce since I can't afford FCS atm). I use lightroom w/ stills from various cameras, and many times I have FCE, lightroom, itunes and safari open and have no problems editing my video footage. And I'm using an early '08 8 core w/ 8 gig ram, 1tb boot, 2x 320 aux drives (1 for scratch, 1 for putting things until I find a better place ), 1x 400 gig drive (bootcamp drive) and a DROBO w/ 2.6 TB worth of drives for external storage.
Basically, I'm saying you can get just about any mac pro config. The single quad core will be close in power to what I have ( a little less on some things, a little more on others based upon the numbers I've seen), but the dual quad core allows for more ram and really, a longer life as newer software comes out that may take more advantage of more cores|||About 8gb of RAM and quad core processor
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