I'd definitely see if you know any students - I think they get a discount of up to 15%, which is a decent amount when you consider the price of MacBooks/iMacs. They also sometimes do offers where students get a free iPod with the purchase of a MacBook, so you'd get an added bonus! :)
I'd definitely recommend Apple products. I bought my MacBook back in 2008 while I was in NY, and I've never looked back. They're incredibly easy to use, worry-free in regards to downloading content off the internet (which would be good for kids, depending on the age) and they look nice :) I got bought an iMac last christmas, and these two products have fully convinced me never to go back to a Window's machine again.