New Computer

[Joyce Ranieri]

I want to take the old VHS & 8 mm video of my boys and put them on 
dvds. I have a mini-dv camera, and have been able to get the footage 
into the computer. As near as I can tell that's about as far as I can 
go with my current equipment. I have a 600MHz iBook (G3) with a 20G 
hard drive and 384 MB of ram, and an external dvd-r burner with Toast 
Titanium. Is there any way I can make dvds with what I've got? I played 
with 30-minutes of Christmas footage and ended up with a 6.8 gb movie 
-- too big to burn in Toast. So the question is -- can this be done 
with my current equipment?

If not, I'm looking at a flat-panel iMac, 17" display, 80 GB hard 
drive, built in SuperDrive. Will this do the job? When can Apple be 
expected to release new computers again? Should I wait just a bit to 
see what might come out soon? I've heard rumors that the 15" iMac will 
be discontinued. I have no problem with waiting -- just a bit -- I 
could spend that time putting the videos onto my external hard drive 
and editing them in iMovie.

Joyce