Is the AC130 a good camera to learn on?

I'm trying to decide between two cams- the Canon XF100, and the Panny AC130. I've read about the differences between the two ad-naseum. My main concern now is whether or not one cam will be easier to learn on than the other. I'm pretty familiar with basic functions of cameras in general such as white balance and aperture/iris, and am very comfortable behind a still camera; but video is relatively new to me.

I know the Canon is smaller, which makes it easy for maneuverability. But what I like about the larger Panasonic are the three manual rings, and the fact that a lot more of the controls are on the camera body itself- I'd rather learn with buttons, than with a touchscreen. Does anyone have any opinion on which camera would be easier for someone working with their first piece of equipment?

I'm glad you mentioned that actually- I use Adobe, and I've been trying to find out wether AVCHD or MPEG2 will make my life easier. AVCHD is attractive to me due to it's lower bit rate because I don't want to take up a lot of storage space. But If I will have to convert it to a higher bitrate codec that's easier to edit, then that will be a point for me to consider. I'm also not terrible concerned about the 4:2:2 vs 4:2:0 as I wont be doing a lot of serious color correction or Chroma keying.

Does AVCHD work well with Premiere and After Effects, without converting?

I use MPEG streamclip for conversion right now. Is there something faster for AVCHD files?