What should i buy?

I am lookin to buy a video camera for next season. Besides knowing how to operate them, I know very little about cameras. I have already posted this in the "audio, video, photography" section, but thought it might get some more exposure here.

So my questions are:
- what should i look for?
- what is the best on the market right now?
- can i buy a water proof one or do i need to buy a waterproof case?
- how much should i look to spend?
- what kind of editing program should i get for my computer?
- will an editing program work on my computer? (dell inspiron 1150 w/ pentium 4)
- what else should i know?

Any suggestion or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

John