Should I buy a Apple Computer or Windows Computer?

This depends on You. They both do the same thing, so if you are comfortable with Windows use that, Mac use That. Maybe it come down to price. The Mac computer maybe little more expensive. The Apple Professional software for video editing might be little more than what you can buy for windows.

What do I use? Both. or lets see which one wins.

Windows - I use Adobe Premiere to edit video, to me it is a little easier application to use than the Mac Final Cut Pro. The Adobe Media Encoder software to compress videos for web sites. Audio recording and editing I use the Free Audacity application and Adobe Premiere. I have been teaching Premiere for 15 years and just seems easy for me to use. Also, I use Adobe After Effects. This is a good animation and special effects program. I will have some demos of this in this class. Here's an After Effects example. For DVD authoring I use Adobe Encore DVD. It is a good DVD application and I have several examples that we do in this class, but I prefer the Apple DVD studio.

Mac - Today I use the Mac more for video editing than Windows. I don't use the i-Life suite very much. I know it comes free with Mac but is very limited and is hard to use for me. I use i-Life as far as teaching, but professional I mostly use Final Cut Studio Pro. The Final Cut video editing software is very powerful, but lacks animation and title effects. The suite comes with Apple Motion, which is a animation and title program. It is hard to learn but has nice title and Special Effects. Here's example Apple Motion. I make most of my DVD on Apple DVD Studio Pro. This is a great DVD authoring Application, it is just easy to use. Audio for the Mac, I use Garage Band and Sound Track Pro. Both are good application, but most of my fixing of audio I do directly in Final Cut Pro.

What type of computer should I buy? I will not list a computer, but the parts that you should think about getting.

1. Processor - I look for a processor with lots of cache "Like L2 cache"and quad processor would be better than duo processor. I don't know, just get the fastest processor you can afford. Be aware of the cheap processors that they put in laptops, very slow and you will be waiting long time to render your video.
2. Ram - what can I say buy is much as you can afford. New Adobe CS4 Suite wants 2 GB Ram.
3. Video Card - This is the card your monitor connects to. Not the place where you plug in your video camera. Wow the most important part of your computer? Yes Apple and Adobe have written their software to take advantage of the memory on the graphic card. I would say 128 MB is minimum and 512 MB would be best. 256 MB is fine. Having a good graphic card will really speed up your production.
4. Audio Card - I don't use any special audio card. On my mac I use the built in card, On windows I use the creative labs sound blaster.
5. Firewire/IEEE 1394/I-Link - these all mean the same thing. It is the most common way to transfer video to your computer. There are 6 pin and 4 pin versions. All transfer data at 4 MB second. Most computer today come with a card built in.
6. Hard drive - what can I say Buy the most data you can. Make sure to have at least a 7200 RPM drive. most computer do, but some cheaper laptops come with 5000 RPM drive which is not fast enough for video.

Heres list of software - you don't need to buy all this software I am just list the things you might need.

1. Audacity is a free audio editing application. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/- I would get the 1.26 version for windows. There is also a Mac version
2. Handbrake - This is a free program to convert files on a DVD to a working file you can use. Or even put on Your i-Pod. http://handbrake.fr/ - works on both Mac and Windows
3. Adobe - what can I say. Things like Photoshop and Illustrator are the cornerstone of all digital media. Since you are taking a Community College class you can get cheap adobe software. http://www.foundationccc.org/CollegeBuys/CollegeBuysHome/tabid/484/Default.aspx - since you are in a video type class you might consider getting the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium - this comes with all the software you need to do video production for $309
4. Mac - I tend not to use the Adobe video editing software on the Mac, but you can it is cheaper than the Apple Final Cut Studio 2 I mostly use the Final Cut Studio 2 software. Final cut express is a cheaper version of Final Cut Studio.
5. Final draft is a script writing software - really cool http://www.creationengine.com/html/p.lasso?p=10176
6. We will use a lot of free software like - apple i-Life suite and Windows Movie Maker and Photostory 3. Make sure to have these on your computer.