There are many types of camcorders on the market to choose from on the right now. They each have thier own strengths and weaknesses.

MiniDV

MiniDV camcorders are currently the cheapest. These relatively small cameras take very good video and use inexpensive tapes.

If price were your only concern, I might recommend one of these. But, when it comes time to connect to the computer, you may become frustrated. You'll need the right connections on your computer. And you'll need software to capture the video.

Oh, and did I mention that you'll have to transfer the video in real time? That means it will take an hour to transfer one hour of video. I think you can find better options.

DVD

For instance, some camcorders record directly to DVD. I think these have an awkward shape, but they do have many benefits. The video quality is quite good. The video will transfer to your computer quickly - all you need is a DVD drive.

The downside to DVD-based recorders is the cost of the DVDs. These recorders require small DVDs that can be quite expensive. They hold about 30 minutes of video and can only be written to once. Once a disc is finalized for viewing, you can't add to it. You can buy rewritable DVDs for these recorders, but they cost significantly more.