Absolutely. But a strong applicant with a preference for a traditional college may well be disappointed to get an offer from a newly converted college. Unless an applicant genuinely doesn't care, they should steer clear of Open Apps.
Quite. Even if you don't know the details of them all, if you've got any sort of preference then best to pick one. I'm not sure if it would then be worth mentioning in the supplementary info section reasons for the choice eg if a woman specifically wanted one of the remaining women's colleges or if there was some physical reason for wanting a central one. DD knew someone with a physical disability who was pooled to a hill college; fortunately she was considered compassionately and transferred to one which was within her limited walking distance of her department.