best computer for DV editing

The basic list of needs is: *fast processor (1.4ghz or above is more than enough) *lots of RAM (512mb is the optimum level, more is merely overkill) *fast hard drive(s) (7200rpm is a must, i'd go with 80+GB, and have atleast 2 to avoid space issues ~~~> never know how many projects you might be working on! ~~~> i filled up my 80gb recently b/c I'm backed up; never thought that would happen ~~~>external firewire for a laptop, not as cheap to buy another one for myself) *good FireWire card for capture *high quality monitor for viewing (LCD, 17"+) *DVD burner if that will be your export medium those are the basic requirments. with that hardware, you won't desire much else from an editing machine. an important factor in video editing as well is a clean operating system ~~~> not loaded down with all sorts of crap running in the background. i used to use Windows 2K Pro on a dualboot machine, and the only things installed on it were Adobe Premiere, Adobe Photoshop, VirtualDub, and my codecs. Not practical for your only computer, but it sure elimnated all problems associated with Windows.

5200rpm drives offer the threat of dropped frames. 7200rpm drives rarely drop frames, and are only a few dollars more. i would do it right the first time, and get the 7200. as for monitors, you don't need a super nice LCD. however, why not look at it as an investment; if you buy a nice monitor, you likely won't have to upgrade it for quite a few years, as monitor technology doesn't advance as quickly as other components.

As for the card, any FireWire card would do the job, even the cheapest. As long as your HD(NTFS) is defragmented and your systray empty you can use every capture program without losing frames. So no need to buy an expensive card with software with it (which often costs more than half the card's price). You can also have a 500 Mhz CPU, if you don't use hard editing (multiple video and audio tracks,filters,etc.)or rendering. If it is just for backup (I mean capture, and then encoding), it will just take (a lot) more time. With a 1500 Mhz CPU you can do whatever you want, even with a full systray. The encoding part will be long, though. A faster CPU won't help you in the editing process, but rendering and encoding will be faster.