Locally, there isn't too many places to perform, but from previous students I've heard the places here are pretty welcoming for VJ's. Because the town is so ridiculously small it'll be a great place for a beginner, I think. My home town, which has a bigger night life, might be even more welcoming to VJ's - knowing I've never heard of any local VJ's.
Well, my questions are: Keeping in mind this will for me just be an experimental, hobby sort of thing to broaden my experience at campus, how much should I have to spend on equipment as a beginner? Is using the free trial version at dance bar gig a definite bummer?
I'll try to read upon what sort of things I'll need myself, but some tips and recommendations would be fantastic

Edit:
ALSO, forgot to add. I only have a Macbook Air - which I read isn't suitable to run the software. Recommend a Macbook Pro or a PC? And how expensive do I have to go to run it smoothly?