Choice

The Story:
Well i have posted before and now i need help. here is the situation. i have £1500 to spend, i want to be able to edit video in Final Cut and be able to use it with ease (no lagg ot tearing)

I am new to the video editing world and would be thinking of getting my own dvd camcorder and try making my own shots with editing them myself.
However i have friends who want there videos edited and i want to give it ago as a new hobbie.

The Choice:
17-inch widescreen LCD with 1440x900 resolution
1.83GHz Intel Core Duo with 2MB shared L2 cache
2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
160GB Serial ATA hard drive
Slot-load 8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 128MB GDDR3 memory
Built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0
£1180.02 ( £-48 due to being a student and have been quoted £48 less [AppleCare])
+ buy a camcorder for around £250 (will need help finding a good camcorder)

Or:

20-inch widescreen LCD with 1680x1050 resolution
2.0GHz Intel Core Duo with 2MB shared L2 cache
2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
250GB Serial ATA hard drive
Slot-load 8x double-layer SuperDrive
ATI Radeon X1600 graphics with 256MB GDDR3 memory
Built-in AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0
£1480.01 ( £-48 due to being a student and have been quoted £48 less [AppleCare])
With no camcorder and just edit friends movies (at current i have never used a camcorder for my own use and therefore dont miss it as such)

Its a hard choice but i cannot make it! HELP :dummy:

17" will give you plenty of screen real estate and you get the camera.

Win - Win.

DVD Camcorders are a royal pain in the butt to edit with though. I would stick to MiniDV and put the cash you save towards an upgrade on the iMac

Yeah I second the miniDV camera.

Ah! I didn't even realize you were wanting a DVD camcorder! I should read better.

I *third* miniDV.

If i go for the 17" + Camcorder is this forum the best place to ask about camcorders?
At the moment im feeling the 17" but might go fore the 20" for the of it and buy a camcorder 4 months down the line.. but do not take that into affect when voting or giving me input on my Q?¬!

Be sure to get a miniDV camcorder with firewire or iLink if you look at Sony.

MiniDV any good when it comes to quality?

the way the votes are going i may just get the 20" and buy a camcorder after..

Yeah, MiniDV is fine, and MUCH more flexible than a DVD camcorder.

The discs are expensive, you have to spend ages re-importing and converting the material you've filmed, you'd need an external DVD drive (slot-loading drives can't read mini-DVD's etc etc).

I'd save up a bit more anyway: 250 pounds will buy you an alright cam... but a bit more will get you a really nice one! (I'd wait until I could get a decent HD & widescreen capable one...)

MiniDV has better quality then dvd camcorders

http://www.macworld.com/2006/08/features/dv_pick/index.php

Hmmz did read that and got a good idea for saving money which i might impliment. i think i might just go for the winning vote with the 20" upgrades.. least it will be ready for Leo 10.5.1

I would get the 17" and the camcorder. 17" is still a really large screen and you can get more bang for your buck with both.

Its getting alot closer for me to purchase and im having one headache trying to work out what i want todo with my money.

Im heading of to PC World today to check the sizes again and then purchase via Apple Site with upgrades

I have now decided and will be getting the 17" with camcorder.
Along with that i will get a tripod and some bundled deal (mindv, ilink[firewire] cable)
The camcorder i will be getting is the Canon DV-MVX460 (£330) unless somebody can sudgest a better camcorder.. features i am looking for are widescreen, minidv. must be around same price. features i DONT want are editing functions as i want to use the imac for this.

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39709 help needed for camcorder