Pardon the absence. I’m currently comparing the XPS with the MacbookPro. My eyes are glazing over.
Good luck. Macs are very nice too.
Has the school specified what type of music programs will be needed? If not, the following info may not matter: For recording on a PC, Sonar is most often used, but there are even free recording programs available on the net.
On Mac, as another Freeper mentioned, Garageband is quite good and comes free with a Mac. If your son ever needs a truly professional recording program, he can buy Logic later, and as “things work together on a Mac”, Mac puts all previous Garageband recordings into Logic for you. Logic also notates and can do charts of music. So even though a Mac is more expensive, it covers most everything.
It all depends, of course, on what type of music programs the school will require.