This is a tad outdated. It says they update every 3 months, but it was last updated in February and all systems list XP, yet the flyer listed only Vista Office.
http://www.educ.msu.edu/content/default.asp?contentID=125
Almost everything ships with Vista; look for XP. Upgrade after a 6-12 month “shake out” of Win 7 - which by the way almost everyone says will be a good one - dell has specials on their web, including laptops - I bought my Toshiba for a little more than the link you posted, but mine is LOADED...best price was from J&R Camera NYC - no shipping or sales tax...
Pay no attention to the humps who are giving you a hard time...like getting a kid through college isn’t hard enough...good luck...take the kid to best buy and have them try out the ‘puters first, then look on the internet, especially if you want to save a few bucks and you live in a tax heavy state...consider a docking station so they can work with a full size board and hook up a printer with a simple latch up - he’ll think it’s nerdy but will hopefully be smart enough and use it for more than facebook and it will be worth it...bought a lot of electronics from J&R and never disappointed...
I think you mentioned up the thread a ways, you would be doing a campus visit.
Looking at the page link, they seem to be offering pretty generic sorts of information. Tiger Direct. Both Dell and Mac. It sort of sounds like they’re leaving it up to you.
If it were me - I think I’d ask whoever you end up with as a rep/contact from the university when you visit.
Seems like they probably get asked a similar question about 10 times daily, and have an exact answer ready, I’d bet.