[pjensen]

I don't know where Brad gets his data. Anyone notice the BGR article of Jan 3, "Amazon's top selling laptop is a Chromebook." Hardly not making the top 20 list. See link:
http://bgr.com/2013/...-amazon-279377/

[markusmushroom]

The attraction of a Chromebook versus a Netbook+browser is that it is a fool-proof little machine that you can safely put into schools or give to your parents. Users can't break it, there is no need to update it etc.

I gave a mom a netbook 3 years ago which she barely used because she constantly managed to remove desktop icons by mistake, she was scared of system and update messages etc. - I got several calls a week to support her needs.

After I gave her a Chromebook, this all stopped. Yes, for a power user this is hard to comprehend - but even for these types of users a Chromebook with a good RDP app (such as ChromeRDP) does pretty much everything that a laptop provides.

[juliusb]

In college I broke a laptop and had its replacement stolen in a span of 2 weeks and that killed my budget, time and homework. The benefit of a cheap Chromebook is price and availability and therefore uptime. If lost/smashed/stolen I just walk into a store to buy a new one, log in, and I'm back at 100% functionality. I can replace my Chromebook 4 times for the price of 1 Macbook Air.

This would've been great in college! It's great now too. All the the programs I use for work are accessed online, I couldn't run a local app if I wanted to and I bet many businesses run this way now with the exception of MS Office. Google Docs is a fine replacement even for spreadsheets.

The benefit for me is that I don't have to treat my Chromebook like a precious baby that needs to protected; it's an effective tool that works and is easily replaced. I admire Apple and Lenovo's build qualities but any drop that's going to kill my Chromebook is going to kill those too.

Chromebooks are for power-users who need uptime, efficiency and have web-based needs. Sure there are people who need big local apps but honestly, how many are there?

Just watch corporate use, once Google becomes a trusted enterprise partner the cost and uptime benefits of Chrome are going to be a big deal to the bean-counters. I really think MS is in trouble. Apple will be fine because many consumers will always pay a premium for a work of r art (Macs really are beautiful)

[johnjohnjohn]

The current Chromebooks seem to me like Google is testing the waters. What they're really offering is a piece of hardware sufficient for the vast majority of computer users needs that can eventually be price reduced to somewhere around $70.00-100.00 each (I'm guesstimating) by economy of scale. The Chromebook is essentially an admission that way over-powered computers have been successfully marketed to home users for at least a decade.

I see the ChromeBook as a viable threat to Microsoft in the home computer market due to the low price. The cloud aspect of the device is a marketing ploy. The price to functionality ratio will sell these devices to tens of millions of people who won't even understand what they're doing in "the cloud".

[WebsterMiller]

As of Feb 21, the #1 Best Seller in laptop computers on Amazon is the Samsung Chromebook...

[JDGAFFLIN]

Check that Amazon Top 20 today.

[bgibson135]

My Samsung Chromebook is a sufficient, portable, Web info tool that I keep handy when watching TV, or beside my bed at night. The quick start-up means that I can quickly connect to the Internet, and search, and be viewing additional content in a flash. If I want to post a blog comment, or send an email, it's done, and the "pretty much" full-sized keyboard means I can respond, in detail, quickly.

During the Super Bowl, they were streaming multiple camera angles. I ran the "camera on a zip line;-)" video from my Chromebook, without a hiccup, for both halves of the game (minus the blackout time).

[Heenan73]

What you see as an inherent limitation, Chromebook users see as a strength. It uses the cloud! Really!

When first launch in 2011, I was one of the doubters; now, with the updated October releases, we have more cloud, more wifi, and can get the benefit of the speed, security and battery life of a machine not weighed down by 5 tonnes of software. It's great!

And I'm sure sales have slipped since Christmas, but as I write, Samsung's is number 16 in Amazons 'computer& accesories' top 100 - the top laptop, the top notebook, the top netbook, call it what you will, it's the highest..

I'd love to see figures, but I'd bet most of the competition are losing sales while Chromebook continues to rise.

And if it was the failure you'd like it to be, why do you think manufacturers are lining up new models?

It's a device whose time has come; as the laptop market shrinks with the onset of tablets, those who still need to do serious work will increasingly find the Chromebook format to be ideal. I wonder how long before Windows releases one and pretends they invented it