Looking to purchase a new Laptop

I'm going back to school in the fall and need a new laptop. I've already decided I want the cheapest I can get with a minimum of 4 gigs of ram. So far I've found one HP Chromebook and one Asus with Windows 8, each with 4 gigs of ram and each at $280.

I was wondering if you guys could give me your thoughts, especially regarding the pros and cons of chromebook (since I never used it before but don't really want to get windows 8) as well as what you think the best bang for the buck is regarding laptop companies. I've heard good things about Lenovo as far as upgrading and maintaining (and their hardware in general) but what are your thoughts?

Are you aiming for a relatively small screen laptop(like chromebook)?
If not ,then I would recommend a samsung satellite, the cheapest one. It is around 300$s, and I see Samsung products to be reliable.
But if I would choose between chromebook and Asus, then I would chose chromebook(but I think I know which Asus you're talking about. The one with a lot of specs, right?)

The asus I'm talking about is the only asus with 4 gigs of ram and windows 8 for such a good price (it might be 300 on newegg but best buy shows it at 280), and the chromebook with 4 gigs of ram is also 280, the chromebook has a bigger screen but the customer reviews say chromebooks are missing a lot of features and I'm beginning to realize I don't even know what a chromebook is. I thought it was just a laptop with a chrome OS.

but can you bear windows 8?(I really hate it)
These are both good brands, so you'd expect their cheapest laptops to have some things you won't like.
Well, the first thing you need to know is what features the customers where complaining about. I you need those features, then don't but the chromebook. My friend knows a lot about laptops, I'll ask him, then post his opinion.

You could always install something other than Windoze 8 on it, like Linux Mint, Ubuntu, or Arch. I would steer clear of Android for a full-functional laptop, but it's great on a tablet.

I second the above suggestion. ChromeOS is actually not related to Android and it is a Linux distribution but a very limited one. Why use ChromeOS (or ChromiumOS as it may be) when you can get something with the full suite of features one expects from an OS.

I don't think Lenovo sells anything for nearly as low as $280. But I am using a Lenovo now. I've had to have it repaired 4 times in the past 3 years but I have a 4 year warranty on it.

For someone not familiar with Linux running a cheap computer I would recommend Ubuntu or Mint as well. You have easily enough RAM for running Mint with Cinnamon desktop or Ubuntu with Unity desktop. But if you'd like to speed things up even more you could use Mint with MATE desktop or Lubuntu, which is Ubuntu with LXDE desktop.

I fear Windows 8 would quickly become sluggish on such a lower end machine. Then again, it tends to get sluggish on higher end machines too, compared to Linux. Once you get to know your way around Linux you won't go back to Windows except to play video games.

I asked 2 of my friends who know alot about laptops. Both of them recomended the hp, but if you are comfortable with win 8, or would install another software, then consider the Asus.

I ended up getting kicked down a dell inspiron, which is my lack last choice but it was free so whatever. Can't figure out how to make it boot Ubuntu instead of windows 7 though, I don't even think you can with dell.

I'm looking too. Guess I gotta decide between hp and asus. Been thinking about asus but never really thought about hp. :)