Thanks everyone, wow this is a lot to digest. Couple of points. He’s going to a liberal arts college, wants to be a teacher - as of today :). No engineer or artist, or even gamer here. On that note, DS2 went to Northeastern and is a recent graduate. He rolled the dice his sophomore year and took on 3 new roommates as his freshman roomie did not come back. They were gamers. Full on close the curtains, fire up the laptops, some of their screens were huge! They gamed, according to my son, from the second they woke up, and into the wee hours. Ok, I told him that was just not possible. They were obsessed he said. Went to conventions (ha, I told DS they’d probably make a fortune in the gaming world while he limped along with his ES degree). His actual roommate left a note to say he’d be gone to a Bronie convention (My Little Pony) in NYC. DS had not clue what that even was, and when he found out he wished he hadn’t asked. When I would go to visit son, he’d warn me that these guys had no social skills what’s so ever, I felt sure he’d exaggerated, but no, they kept their heads down and couldn’t take 2 seconds to say hello, not even a head pop of hi. What blew my DS away was it would be a beautiful spring day, and these guys had no interest in the outside world. He stuck it out the entire year. My kids are outdoor freaks. Weirdo’s I know. So I will reread all this one more time.
Bought the U of Delaware, NE and the Tuft students all Dell’s. They loved them. But now out in the world working they make the case for Apple products if we can swing it, even the engineer. One uses the 13 inch and says it’s plenty big enough for him. Eh, we will see what we can do. Calling the school now just to see what they say. Loving the idea of the $100 insurance. And the free software claim. 
Once my kids were out in the working world…they paid for their computers…and chose them. We gave each kid ONE new computer while in undergrad school. One. All it had to do was comply with the school,requirements.
I think you will find many within your price point.
@jym626 @TooOld4School thanks so much for wise words and spot on advice
I found the NSSI policy - $232 for 3 years, about the same as purchasing an extended warranty with accident coverage when you purchase your computer, but it covers more. I will seriously consider this, we have damaged a few a few laptops with drops so the manufacturer’s warranty might not suffice.
I can’t find the USAA policy online.
Are you a member of USAA? IIRC The student coverage was an extension of our HOA policy.
That should say HO, for homeowners policy
Some people really have trouble letting go of the idea that apple is not the ultimate electronics company lol. Their clickwheel iPods were easily the best mp3 players but now they’re gone 
http://www.businessinsider.com/nyu-professor-says-apple-is-a-cult-2015-9
Batteries exploding is not limited to macs of course. But when the battery in my girlfriend’s laptop started expanding we couldn’t just open it. We had to order a proprietary tool from ifixit which meant every day that the battery was stuck in the computer waiting to be taken out it was damaging the internals of the computer. Apple is notoriously overprotective with their repairs.
And for the record, I was comparing much higher spec laptops not basic consumer grade, and you still come out around 1,000$ less than a macbook when you look at windows laptops.
I have the dorm insurance for D, great deal: https://www.collegestudentinsurance.com - as I go to renew this for next year i note it covers her semester abroad as well. Pretty great for $87 annual premium, $3k coverage and $25 deductible. Identity theft protection too.
I also just saw a couple of laptops on Groupon, a refurb Mac Air for $400ish is one of them.
(I am not a fan of Apple. At all. But my kid is and she loves hers)
We are USAA members but don’t use them for insurance. So, we checked with our HO insurance company. While they didn’t offer a dorm add-on. They did offer an electronics add-on for $24/year that will cover cell phone and computer for a student at college plus the rest of the family’s electronics at home and while traveling. So, thanks to this thread for pointing us in the right direction. I wish we had known about this when DS’s cell phone was stolen in Costa Rica.