im looking into macs as well, none of my geek friends know anything, just like me. i want it mainly for final cut pro, after effects, trying to get serious about editing etc. so i figured a laptop wasnt the right choice, but i dont really know anyone with a imac or whatever the fuck they are called. a home mac. must be some indie editors on here.
A regular Macbook would work fine for you, but I personally recommend a Macbook Pro if you're doing a lot of serious video rendering... the 17" hi-res widescreen is a lot of real estate, and as you already know, all of the video apps take up every square inch. I got mine a few months ago, after the death of my mobile video editing machine (a six year old Vaio). Most of my machines at home and at work are either Windows or Linux, and I wound up adopting the Mac into my workflow really easily. Scary-easily, actually. You'll pay some bank, but the refurb prices aren't bad, but I got mine through the government employee pricing which is really similar to the academic pricing.
Also, I don't think I was required to show any proof of my government employment... the discount on the laptop itself let me purchase a bluetooth mouse, backpack (recommended because it's a pretty hefty computer), and the Apple Care for roughly the same cost as the computer by itself at its regular price.
One last thing: Open Office (NeoOffice as it's called for Apples) is really good, but it tends to ignore some macros in Excel files and it doesn't seem to display certain types of text boxes or other floating elements that a PC user might send you in Word format... but that'll only come up in really office-type scenarios. It'll open basic Word, Wordperfect, Powerpoint, and spreadsheets that don't have a lot of crazy formatting in them (from PC users).