Laptops

First of all, don't get a mac, just to get a mac...there are certainly cheaper laptops out there. However, if you want a laptop that will be good for editing video/pictures then mac is pretty much the way to go. They work really well, are very fast, and can certainly hold up to the high demand of video editing. They're also very good for surfing the web and basic word processing and stuff like that. I'd recommend going down to the nearest apple store/best buy and just play around with one for a little and see how you like it, you obviously wont be able to edit video there, but you'll get a good idea of how well they actually work. If you do decide to go with a pc, you'll need to make sure to have a lot of RAM and hard drive space as well as a fast processor, because they can tend to crash while editing video. Either way, make sure you also get an external hard drive or two for scratch discs and render files because if you save those file to your hard drive they can take up A LOT of space on your hard drive and slow down the editing process.

It's mostly personal preference.  Apple laptops are unarguably more expensive than their PC counterparts most of the time, and both perform well with the proper system requirements.

I personally own both a Mac and a PC.  The Mac is usually in the hands of my fiancee while she edits her photos, and I use my PC for work related things and I have Office on it already.  She hates Windows and loves the Mac, mostly because she's not computer savvy and the software she uses on my Mac is apparently nicer than the Photoshop programs she used to edit with.

I love both in their own way.  I'm more familiar with Windows after growing up with it and complicated nerdy tasks are much easier for me.  But when I play with media and just surf around, I love my Mac and the OSX software.  It's also nice to have the computer boot up in 2 seconds instead of 5 minutes.  Even though they have almost identical specs, the Mac runs 10x faster with media because the software is so simply designed and user friendly.  Adobe Premier runs like a snail on my PC.

Like they said above, play with both and consider your needs.  It's an expensive decision, and it's more expensive if you head to the Apple store.  Make sure you like Macs and build some comparable computers on PC seller's websites to find out the price difference.  I was willing to pay $300 more for a Macbook Pro for the fiancee to use and for my media, and it cost me about $235 more than an identical HP that I liked.