Originally posted by: alfa147x
Go For the Macbook No Duo PC
I would recommend this too, except A) we don't know if there are any initial glitches yet and B) he may not be willing/able to get Mac equivalents to his existing Windows apps, especially since they would need to be universal binaries to work.
When you say that you're "processing video files," are you editing them, or simply converting them? If it's the latter, that's not too hard to accomplish on an Intel-based Mac.
If you're editing, that may be trickier.
iMovie (which comes with the MacBook Pro) is good if you're doing fairly basic editing, so if that's all you need you don't have to go much further. If you do want more, though, that's where it gets tricky. Apple will have Final Cut Studio ready for Intel Macs in March, but that's a $1299 pro suite (it includes DVD Studio Pro, Final Cut Pro, Motion, and Soundtrack). The much more reasonable $299 Final Cut Express doesn't have a definite timeframe for Intel binaries yet.
Even if you don't want to spring for a MacBook Pro, I would definitely prefer a Core Duo-based laptop over one with a P4 any day of the week. It's much more power-efficient and is much cooler, so you can get a thinner and lighter laptop (if you want). My opinion is that a laptop only lives up to its name if it's relatively easy to carry around. Thankfully having a Core Duo doesn't mean giving up performance.