first your friend should decide if he wants SD ( standard definition ) or HD ( high definition )
Nowadays mostly HD cams are sold, users often blissfully unaware that they will face big problems if they want edit. They record in highly compressed mpeg2 ( to harddisc, SD card or DVDs ) which is much more difficult to edit than the uncompressed AVI files of SD cams and thus are moslty aimed for consumers who do not want to edit but show their footage right away.
If you want to edit and do not want to spend big bucks for a top notch PC, a HD TV asf. go for a SD cam, the Panasonic GS500 being a very good choice, GS400 being the best choice, but it only can be found used.
If it should be HD which really does make footage with much better resolution rather go for socalled HDV cams ( usually Sony, but mostly they lack manual controls, even a mic in ), the best choice there seems to be the Canon HV20 which btw records to tapes! Because it CAN be edited with a top notch PC ( of course you always can downconvert to SD first as well ), not an AVDHC cam for which there still isn't any software out to edit it with.
If recorded sound is important mind that all HV cams also record the sound in highly compressed format, but SD cams in WAV!