I'll even entertain the "BUY A MAC" comments as long as there is some reasoning behind it.

I want: Cheap, powerful enough to do basic video editing, small. Maybe a laptop. THANKS!

honestly, if you have the money for it, i would say a mac, i bought one almost 2 years ago and have never had a problem. not even a freeze. i do have to say i'm pretty impressed.

Check newegg and tigerdirect sales regularly, something will come up at a good price point.

Or if you don't mind the markup or find one on sale, macs are pretty darn good.

Check newegg and tigerdirect sales regularly, something will come up at a good price point.

Or if you don't mind the markup or find one on sale, macs are pretty darn good.

I've been a Mac guy for something like four years now, and I'm constantly impressed by them. My most recent experience was having them replace a failing, out of warranty Time Capsule because my laptop was covered under Applecare.

I know Macs include iMovie out of the box, which is a great basic video editor - does fades, menus, voiceovers, text on screen, etc. I can't say if there's a free equivalent on the Windows side.

Depending on how much you edit video, I would recommend going with either a price-comfortable iMac or a MBP, if you can afford it. If video editing is going to be an occasional thing, perhaps just the 13" MBP will work just fine.

Apple has the best customer service hands down, from phone support in easy to understand english, to techs willing to go the extra mile to help you solve a problem, to Geniuses at Apple stores to help hands-on. Yes, they're pricey, but the intangibles of owning one - support, the fact that most of the time, it does "just work", the camaraderie of fellow owners, examples like mine with my Time Capsule - totally make it worth it.

That said, I don't know enough about Windows 7, your thoughts on computer gaming (almost non-existent on Macs), or if you use any specialized software to give a competent counter argument for the case of PCs.

buy a mac. bomb icons are cuter.