[Mikasa]

The Chromebook is a very cheap option as well as decent option if you're looking to get a decent bang for your buck. Installing something like a Linux distribution can create yourself a decent netbook that if fully functional for a very low price. Some are Intel, some are ARM, so some differences may vary in what you can run.

I personally have a Chromebook laying around with Chrubuntu installed on it. It is a useful and small machine and was worth the money. Even with Chrome OS on it's own, it is decent. You can browse the web and developers are becoming more and more accustomed to web apps. For example, Skype is now officially web-friendly (no need for a third-party web version anymore that is barely functional and only supports chat) among other things. Hell, you can even use Photoshop on Chrome OS granted you actually have a license to it.

Overall Chrome OS is not going anywhere anytime soon in the way I see it. It's only becoming more and more usable and becoming more and more in par with other operating systems. I don't recommend it over a Windows machine, or even a Mac machine (don't like the torches and grab the pitchforks for me saying this) but Chrome OS overall is not bad at all.