[RexRollman]

I appreciate what you are saying, as I had a CR-48 and liked it a lot. That said, unless you absolutely do not want to perform any configuration or just don't want to spend more money, I feel that the DIY route is better.

For instance, I recently bought a Lenovo x230. I have Arch Linux on it, along with Firefox and Ratpoison. I get pretty much the same thing as I had ChromeOS: a full-screen web browser in one window and a full-screen terminal in another. This configuration has none of the privacy concerns I have about using a Google product and I don't need Google's permission just to create a user account.

(Backups are a breeze too: just a few dot files. I use Firefox Sync to back up my bookmarks.)

[andrewchoi]

But if the x230 is broken or stolen, it costs ~1k to replace. A new Chromebook is ~200.

I personally love the design of the x230, and am looking to get one myself. The biggest sticking problem for me is price.

[RexRollman]

If price is an overriding issue, than the Chromebook would be a better choice.