Which video editor should I buy?

[vidds]

I'm looking to buy a new laptop to go with something like premier elements, pinnacle , magix, cyberlink, or corel, but looking at the reviews I see that half the reviewers always complain thier program is crashing and they are going insane.

I'm a windows movie maker user who wants more video and audio tracks and more/better affects and my budget for the laptop is $700.

Which program is the most reliable, stable, and cpu usage freindly?
Should I go for a previous version of video editor?
What would be the requirements regarding ram and video card for smooth editing, HD vs. non-HD?
Which brands laptop are good?

[pippas]

Which program is the most reliable, stable, and cpu usage freindly?

Edius Neo 3 : http://www.grassvalley.com/products/edius_neo_3 might be worth looking at, to meet those requirements.
You can free trial it, to see if it suits you.

[edDV]

I recommed you demo Edius and Vegas Pro. They are by far the most stable.

I can't speak to Magix, never used it.

[budwzr]

Since cost is similar, go with the program that has a professional version, that you can grow into, like Vegas.

[neomaine]

I'm looking to buy a new laptop to go with something like premier elements, pinnacle , magix, cyberlink, or corel, but looking at the reviews I see that half the reviewers always complain thier program is crashing and they are going insane.

I'm a windows movie maker user who wants more video and audio tracks and more/better affects and my budget for the laptop is $700.

Which program is the most reliable, stable, and cpu usage freindly?
Should I go for a previous version of video editor?
What would be the requirements regarding ram and video card for smooth editing, HD vs. non-HD?
Which brands laptop are good?

1 - See above for programs.
2 - Ditto
3 - I'd recommend a min 4gb or RAM. Almost any newer video card from ATI or NVIDIA should be able to handle HD (almost always h264) video. Though hard drives will play a large part in the smoothness.
4 - Brand of laptop? That's like asking what brand of car can drive you across town, to the next city or across the country in comfort or haul the most trash. Almost all car manufacturers have a vehicle that can do what you want...

Unless portability is a necessary requirement, you could get a very meaningful desktop for that budget. For $700 you can get an adequate CPU, ram and video card while saving the extra for additional hard drives. Yes, drive(s). One for the OS, and two 'work' drives.

A laptop is in general a poor tool for video editing. If you're looking to move away from the easier/canned tools, you should look at starting to build a better machine to handle the additional workload. Don't get me wrong, it can be done but the same desktop specs on a laptop will be at least 2x the price.

[lordsmurf]

Premiere or Vegas.

[zoobie]

Vegas Movie Studio

[vidds]

the requirements on sony vegas says 200 mb needed for installation. Is that it? premiere needs a few GB. Does all the content have to run off of the cd's? doens't that make it harder to operate?

[Zapages]

I would recommened Magix Video Deluxe, best to edit, make effects, etc

[budwzr]

On second thought, maybe Magix would be better for you.