Is it possible? I want to edit all in HDV, exporting both SD and HDV, and I want it to edit smoothly, no lagging etc. Curious if thats possible since I`m hearing Power Macs with the intel chip are up around $3k

All the new iMac's should do it fine! You basically just need a 1GHz or faster processor and preferably 2GB of RAM and you'll be able to handle HDV very smoothly...

My G4 eMac with under 1GB of RAM can handle HDV fine, but it's not ALWAYS smooth/lag-less.

Get MacBook Pro. It starts at $1999 and you don't need the display (unless you have a decent one)... and you can edit wherever you want.

In the future you may think about external HD.

Yes, it's possible. If you select an iMac.

Having a quick look at the US Apple Store, the cheapest iMac configuration which should be capable of running the entire FCS suite seems to be the 20" 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo for $1,499. But you would need to bring it up to at least 2 GB RAM, which is an extra $150 and would bring it to $1,649.

This model has a graphics card which is supposed to be able to handle the Color application (ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory).

The cheaper 20" 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac ($1,349 with 2 GB RAM) only has the ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB memory, so I'm not sure if this one can handle Color.

But if you go with the iMac (rather than Mac Pro), you can only install a maximum of 4 GB RAM, you are stuck with the graphics card you get when you purchase it and you can't install a Blackmagic or AJA card in the iMac.

If you can find a (usually cheaper) third-party RAM supplier who can supply an EXACT MATCH for the iMac RAM, who knows, you might even be able to max out the RAM to 4 GB and still come in at under $2,000.

I know i`m sounding picky, but I don`t want to be limited by an Imac for stated reasons of not really being able to upgrade in the future. Is an Ibook a laptop I`d assume? Aren`t laptops generally more expensive for less power?

I havent had any problems editing on my iMac. Upgraded to 4gb of ram and can pretty much cut anything i throw at it. If you are looking for a tower, get a dual g5 on ebay like my shooting partner. He spent about 1100 for the dual G5 and bought a 23" mac monitor.

The iMac's will have more power fior the money then the Macbook Pro's, and are about the same in upgradability.
And finding a new Mac Pro for under 2k is impossible.
Maybe refurbished or second hand, but then you still have to buy a monitor etcetera. And even the Mac Pro comes standard with 1GB RAM (big no no from Apple).

FCS works great on an iMac. I use the video out connected to a standard def monitor. It gives me a good reference for how the HDV footage will look on SD DVD. An iMac won't render as quickly as a new Mac Pro or allow the addition of high end capture. But it is under $2K and edits HDV smoothly.

Just wanted to give my experience in case it helps anyone - so far it's under $2K. It's been a good learning experience.

Several years ago I bought a Mac G4 Dual 1.25. I had to upgrade the ram to 2 gigs - don't buy the cheapest you can find. I had to buy twice - the first stuff crashed a lot. Cost was ~$200.

I also had to upgrade my video card to a ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition @ ~$250. I got the X800, but realized later it's only for 8X G5s, so had to return it and get the 9800 Pro.

I bought Final Cut Pro 2 (not studio) on Ebay for about $140.00. Then I bought the upgrade version of Final Cut Studio for $700.

Total spent on the upgrade = $1290.00.

The downside to this is that it's not perfect - Color doesn't run very well, and I get errors trying to install Motion (actually, got a lot of errors installing everything, just kept trying it until I got the core stuff installed). However, I've been editing my most recent project in Final Cut Pro 6 and haven't had it crash yet. I exported the project through Compressor last night, and it completed successfully. It did crash when coming out of sleep mode this morning, but it's done that before. I also burned an older project through the new version of DVD Studio Pro and that worked successfully also.

I have not tried HDV yet, but I've got an XH-A1 and will be giving it a try soon to see what I've really got under the hood... if it doesn't go, guess I'll be saving up for a new Mac...

Definitely get a MacBook Pro 17 in.

I bought one for $1,899 from smalldog.com the first of this year.

I don't know how much they have them for now, but if you look a lot of places, you will find the jewel you are looking for.

The MacBook Pro 17 in. is "Consumer Reports" top 17 in. model.

It offers me portablity, a large screen for a desktop portabily, and if you DO just have to get a bigger screen, a mouse, keyboard, or an external hard drive, you can get those later.

TRUST ME! You will be SO happy with the Laptop!!!

I have FCS, and Logic Pro 7, and newly installed Leopard on it.

It works so smooth! As for me, I have never edited on a desktop, and if I ever do, the laptop will be the machine I will rely on.

One thing though...any mac that you buy, get the Applecare Plan, it comes with more than just Tech Support. I have never regretted getting the extended warranty.

Also, there are three things you don't buy used. (1)Mattress (2)Underwear (3)Computer. Buy a new one, or don't get one at all...who knows WHAT the previous owner did to it.