Newbie Needs Advice: Dell e521 or the new iMAC?

[lecterielin]

Hello All

I am a newbie to film editing and cannot make up my mind about the right software. I will be running Avid Xpress Pro HD. I currently have a DELL system but am thinking of getting the new iMAC. Please help me or give some hints/tips as to which system might be better. Here is how they stand:

My Dell E521
AMD Athlon 2 Core X2 4600+
2 GB RAM - PC4200 (this worries me)
256 MB ATI Radeon 1950 XT card
1 MB L2 Cache (this worries me)
250 GB HD (irrelevant as I have an external one too)
19inch LCD monitor
650 Watt power
2 DVD burners
3 Firewire ports

The iMAC
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz Extreme
2 GB RAM (DDR2 @ 667 - will this make a difference?)
ATI HD 2600 Pro w/ 256 MB (is my Dell card better?)
4 MB L2 Cache (vs 1 mb on my Dell)
24 inch LCD
DVD burner combo drive
500 GB HD

Which one is good enough? better? I was burning some DVDs (making video) on Nero on my Dell and noticed that there was an offshoot between sound and picture. Is it because my Dell is too slow? Does cache and bus speed matter that much? Please help. I will greatly appreciate ALL and ANY comments/suggestions.

Thanks

Mike

[mats.hogberg]

Don't cross post please.
Continue here: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic336631.html#1750392

/Mats