I'm also an editor and I have to concure with Mackey. An Apple would be best and can go a long way for you. He's right about the avid setup being cheap for the Windows-based user. I recommend going to Journey Education's website and looking around. They give great software to students for cheaper prices. Mind you, the software licence you are purchasing there is a student licence and not a full retail. Go to Avid's site as well. On the Mac side, you could get a small powerbook for about $1,200 and you could pic up Final Cut Express for around $250 I think. The machine you're leaning toward looks good, but I recommend going to www.pixelmonger.com and check out the reviews that Scott gives about the Sony. I think it was pretty positive if I recall... Premiere is good as well, so you've got alot of choices. I also prefer tape over DVD's, then again, it depends on what kind of tape we're talking about. That's a whole technical thing that I won't get into right now. Just keep in mind that it's all about compression.
As far as cameras, I'd have to say The GL2 is good. It really depends on your budget and how far you want the look to go. pixelmonger also has reviews on all these cameras. Just keep in mind that Scott is gearing his site towards acheiving a film quality image with video gear.
I know that this post is long, but I hope it help you. And Mackey, we should swap stories and stuff.