So last week turned out to be very good for me and my news organization. After several months of negotiating a position for a full-time video journalist was approved and an offer was made. I’m really excited and can’t wait to get started.

Another good thing is that I have the ability to put together a capital expenditure to build two identical video journalist kits – from a laptop to video camera to lights and all the accessories. It has proven to be more difficult that I imagined. Spending other people’s money always is, it seems.

So I need help. What do you think? For the big stuff I’m looking at a MacBook Pro or an HP Pavillion HDX laptop. For a camera, I am looking at the Panasonic AG-HVX2000. Are these the right choices?

For editing software it comes down to Final Cut Studio 2 for the Mac or Adobe Creative Suite Production Premium. What do you think?