I figured I should start a new thread for this question.
I was in the process of ordering a class set of Macbook laptops for the game development class I will be teaching. I found out recently that Game Maker, the program I was planning to use (due to it's popularity and seeming ease of use) is not available on Macs. HUH???!!! Bad move on their part.
Anyway, going with a PC order will open up a can of worms as now there are dozens of choices. What do you all recommend? Keep in mind I'm not a techie so please don't use acronyms. I need a reliable name brand (Lenovo, Dell, HP, whatever) and the minimum amount of memory and processor speed to run Game Maker, Blender and maybe something else. I suppose the price range can be anywhere from $500-$1000 per laptop.
Any suggestions?