Anyone planning to buy an editing set-up (or any kind of computer, for that matter) hopes for a definitive recommendation by an expert to guide them through the maze. Unfortunately, the market is changing all the time, with computers becoming outdated as fast as mobile phones. Putting detailed technical data on this site would date it within minutes. So we have assembled some general advice
If you can spend more on your set up, then do. Institutions rarely upgrade, so get the best first time around
Most manufacturers of editing programs offer incredibly competitive educational rates, including the more professional ones.
People will tell you all sorts of things about how Macs are brilliant, or PCs are faster, etc. etc. snore snore. Mac and PC editing programs look and behave in very similar ways.
More important than whether you have an Apple Mac or a PC is whether it is powerful enough to handle video. Video files are huge in comparison to text or picture files - video is basically thousands of pictures in sequence, 25 per second. Five minutes of digital video on your computer take up over a gigabyte of hard drive, and it takes a lot of effort for your computer to handle this amount of data. This is less of a problem on newer machines, but anything older will probably go on strike.
For the same reasons, hard disc space gets eaten up incredibly quickly, and your 120GB internal drive suddenly seems rather small. Get the biggest drive you can and consider getting an external hard drive.
As important as hard drive space is memory (aka RAM or 'random access memory'). You need lots and lots of this too. Programs will generally say on the box how much they need - minimum - but this is definitely minimum, so go for more if you can afford it. It's not being greedy: it means your film will play back more smoothly, and you won't have to go for a coffee every time you have to render something.
You also need a firewire port to connect your cameras. if your PC doesn’t have one they can be fitted as an additional card.
It should be noted that at the time of writing, the MacBook laptop has dispensed with the firewire port, though the MacBook Pro still has one.
Having someone at hand who can set up, maintain and de-bug your computer is invaluable, yet this is often neglected. Some institutions spend a lot of money on buying the equipment, but none on making sure it works and keeps working. Fixing computers is one of the toughest jobs in the world and only a small number of exceedingly nice people are happy to do it for free. Find out who - if anybody - is responsible for technical support. Ensure you can call on their services and that they are able to work with your equipment.
If you can afford it, set up a dedicated edit computer and avoid putting other programs on. Make sure no other software is open & you're not connected to the internet when editing
A more powerful computer with faster processors is probably your wisest investment.
Don't get fobbed off. Get 2Gb minimum, 4GB better.
Firewire is slightly faster than USB2. Consider designating drives to projects or groups.
The bigger the better. If you are going to do a lot of editing then dual screen monitors are the way to go. These give you plenty of space to have your browser, timeline window and source and record monitors in view, as well as having easy access to the desktop and other folders. High end Macs are ready to run two monitors, while with a PC you have to specify that you want a 'dual screen video card'
Good speakers and an amplifier are useful if you have groups editing; or get mid price computer speakers with a bass speaker that sits on the floor. If sound is a problem, consider headphones.
And remember to adhere to all the usual health and safety regulations