Home video editing: is iMac good enough?

Hi - I'm in the market for my first Mac in about 10 years. I haven't kept up on what's going on in the Mac world.

Are the new iMac's powerful enough to edit and produce home video? I'm talking about my digital video, not making anything professional.

Or do I need to spend [gasp] $3200 on a Mac Pro.

I just don't want more computer than I need (not a gamer), but I also don't want to have a video editing machine that can barely do the job.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The iMacs are more than capable for home video. My brother started with iMovie, moved up to Final Cut Express, and now dabbles on Final Cut Pro, all on an iMac. He just upgraded to a new 27" iMac and has pretty nice HD equipment.

You'll be fine with an iMac.

I know I'm a little late in the reply, but I'm a professional editor and I edit both 1080 and 720 HD video as well as standard def video on a regular basis. The only Mac I've owned is a late 06 iMac which handles the workflow just fine. I don't accomplish things as quickly as other people might, but my deadlines are usually measured in days, not hours anyway.

My only suggestion would be make sure that the system has at least 4G of RAM (for most systems from Apple these days, that's the minimum they offer anyway) and have lots of external storage.

The Mac Pros are really great, but way more machine than you will need.

Should not be a problem at all. All the macs are fine for home use video editing. Some just take a little longer than others but that is the beauty of non paid work, time is not nearly as important (when it is not money

I just bought the new MC413x/a . I am downloading my first DV recording. I told the guy in the shop I wanted to edit 3 cams into one and he said yes it could do it.
im now seeing that I may need final cut express or pro
can I edit 3 cams into one with this machine?
its a dance concert and I do need the 3 cams.

The iMacs are completely capable of producing home videos, especially if it's the new quad core iMac.

quad core iMac's are beast.. you can do whatever whenever on them.

I edit HD content on a white MacBook with 4GB RAM just fine. You should be OK.

Mac's are great for professional even!