@tbonnesen In Linux you could run a Windows 8 virtual machine to run those Windows programs you need, or use Wine, which packages applications to be used on Linux. This is a bit more advanced and if you're not sure you might just want to stick with running Windows 8. And it's pretty darn smooth. I experience the occasional lag, but nothing that didn't happen ever so often on OS X. That's what goes on in my case. I've had some pretty good experiences so far with Win8.
As far as the Lenovo goes, I feel it's a bit of a gimmick with the tablet/laptop hybrid, but for the price with those specs, it's awesome. It should work for you. Better than what $1000 would get you buying an Apple laptop, that's for sure.
EDIT: @Carnagex and @tbonnesen; for those apps that might not work on on Windows 8, again virtualization comes to the rescue; run a Windows 7 VM and run them there. I highly doubt something really just will not work at all on Windows 8. You should be fine.