Ben VS. The Mac

So here I am thinking of things to keep myself busy when my friends all take off to college again when it occurs to me that I'd really like to get back into video editing. I took a class on it back in college using Final Cut Pro, andreally enjoyed it. I was really surprised to find how easy it was to edit and manipulate video with this program once you began to use it. Of course on the downside Final Cut Pro requires a Mac to use.

I've been thinking about buying a Mac for awhile, especially the Mac Mini. Its nice and small and will fit next to my TV. Its also pretty affordable compared to a lot of Apple computers. Problem being though, is that the Mac Mini isn't powerful enough to run the latest version of Final Cut Pro, but it will run versions older then Final Cut 5. I'm going to shop around with some of my college friends and see if their college book stores have an academic version for cheap [A full version of Final Cut Pro 5 runs about $1,200]. I'm also curious if anyone out there knows where I can get a Mac that'll run Final Cut Pro 4.5 for cheap, and don't say E-Bay.