Andrea:

There are tons of video cameras out there… it’s hard to choose, I understand! I have a Macbook Air of my own and I had to a search for a video camera myself.

For what you are looking for, I’d recommend any of these:
Canon VIXIA HFS10 HD Dual Flash Memory with 32 GB Internal Memory and 10x Optical Zoom
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OI2YNS?ie=UTF8&tag=technolochic-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001OI2YNS

Sony HDR-XR100 80 GB HDD High Definition Camcorder:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001Q7VXM0?ie=UTF8&tag=andrebebir-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001Q7VXM0

Canon VIXIA HF200 HD Flash Memory Camcorder with 15x Optical Zoom
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OI2Z2I?ie=UTF8&tag=andrebebir-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001OI2Z2I

or

Sony DCR-DVD650 DVD Handycam® Camcorder
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P3O3O0?ie=UTF8&tag=andrebebir-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001P3O3O0

Those are the best I have tested and tried. If you need any further help, feel free to contact me. Good luck!

love me:

The Canon folks have really outdone themselves with their latest, top-of-the-line, HD flash memory camcorder. It’s about the size of a Coke can, and fits easily in the hand, but it performs at a very high level. The images it makes are really quite lovely, thanks to the high quality 10x telephoto lens, the unprecedented in this class 1/2.6in., 8.59 megapixel sensor, and Canon’s very powerful image processor. Whether played directly on an HD television, using a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable (like this one that I have), or converted for editing using Roxio Toast 10 Titanium or Final Cut Express 4 (for Mac users), the images it produces (at 1080i) are really quite nuanced and lovely. What makes this even more handy is that it can also take quite impressive 8 megapixel still photos, which means you can finally leave the camera at home and bring only one recording device.

This is a very nice step up from the previous "generation" Vixia camcorders. I have the HF10 and I love it – it makes beautiful video, allows me a great deal of flexibility with my image capture (shutter speed, focus, aperture, etc.) – but what Canon added with the HFS10 are several new features that certainly make it more convenient for amateur and home-video users, but that also make it even more usable for independent and professional work. Altogether, this is a very fine dual function prosumer camcorder/still camera.

For the home video enthusiasts, there are several powerful new functions that help the HFS10 deliver excellent imagery with very little tweaking. The face recognition software is revolutionary – not only does it detect faces and aim to keep them in focus when you have it turned on, but it also can tell the difference between faces, so that you can follow focus on a particular face in a crowd. Say you are capturing a child in a theme park, the HFS10 will stay on your child as he or she moves close or far away among many others. There is the instant autofocus feature, that helps make images stay constantly in focus rather than, as with older camcorders, look like the camcorder is constantly hunting for the right focus around whatever objects happen to be near the middle of the frame. The real clincher for the home video and amateur user (and what makes this decisively better for casual use than the HF10 and most other camcorders I’ve seen) is that finally with this camcorder you can leave the still camera at home. Most camcorders capture photos, but most don’t capture photos at anywhere near the quality of even an inexpensive digital camera. With this one you can capture high quality photos, with a wide range of adjustments possible, right on the same memory card you capture your video on. I used to carry my Nikon Coolpix in my pocket and my VIXIA HF10 on my shoulder. Now I can leave the camera home, since this gives me comparable quality – especially given the superior lens – and I can capture then shoot as I please, no reaching into the pocket to switch gears.

For the semi-professional or more advanced user, the noticeable improvements include the bigger lens (if you look at this carefully you’ll see that roughly the front half of the camcorder is devoted to the 10x telephoto lens), the 1/2.6" sensor, the ability to shoot at a very high 24Mbps quality (which appears to me to eliminate the jolty look that I occasionally detected on my HF10 when I moved the camcorder quickly while shooting), and of course the 24p recording and "Cinema Mode" (that makes automatic adjustments to give a film-style contrast and range). The microphone is better on this one than the HF10, especially due to a greater separation between left and right inputs that gives a more genuine stereo recording capacity. It still allows both a stereo mini-plug external microphone and/or Canon’s proprietary hot shoe mike – which is very handy for reducing noise outdoors and focusing the sound for semi-professional indoors shooting.

All video on this camcorder is captured in the new AVCHD format, which is an HD playback format that allows you to record very high quality footage using a relatively small amount of memory. While you can play it back directly through the camcorder on an HD television, or burn it using Canon’s own dvd burner, if you plan to edit your footage it will need to be converted first (there are a few programs on PCs that will edit AVCHD files directly, but they require high processor speeds and a lot of RAM – since what they are basically doing is converting on the fly). On a Mac, I’ve found the best solutions to be iMovie ‘08 or ‘09, Final Cut Express 4, or Apple Final Cut Studio 2, which all convert the files into high quality quicktime files that can be edited directly. An alternative solution is to convert the files using the Roxio Toast 10 Titanium, which also gives a high quality output that can then be worked with using whatever editing program you like.

Anyhow, this is an excellent little camcorder that has the convenience of a consumer camcorder but with features that are superior to that of most professional camcorders just a few years ago. It is ideal for vacations and home movies, and would be a nice supplement on professional productions or even as a stand-alone solution for small scale independent documentary or feature filmmaking. I’m very impressed and very happy with this camcorder.