Have you considered purchasing an ultrabook? It would do everything you want and it would do it well.
I find it funny that you would rather have two devices - both of which are just okay at what they do - instead of just one device that's superior than both. But it comes down to personal preference, really.
Both of my machines are great for what they do, where an Ultrabook would only be an okay replacement for my ASUS. They would admittedly be just as portable as my Chromebook, but I would still
need want a more powerful machine. Instead of buying a $1,200 gaming laptop and a $700 Ultrabook, I chose to buy a $1,200 gaming laptop and a $250 Chromebook.
I did look at ultrabooks when I bought my ASUS. What I really wanted was desktop level power in a package that didn't take up the space of a desktop since I live in a small apartment and don't have a dedicated desk space. Not a single ultrabook is as powerful as my machine, and I was willing to drop upto $2500 on one that was. I've got a quad core i7, GTX 765MX graphics, 8 GB of RAM (with two slots still empty for expansion), two hard drive bays (both of which I use), and a large screen (as I said, I don't have a desk area where I could have an external monitor set up). No ultrabook would play games at the level I wanted. Not a single one, even today. They would have been okay at it, but not excellent. My ASUS is excellent at the purposes I purchased it for, an Ultrabook would only have been okay, not great as your post implies. Not to mention I wanted a full SSD boot drive, not a caching SSD, so I would have had to frequently plug an external hard drive into the ultrabook, which while doable, is a hassle. I would have had to spend double what I spent on my ASUS to get an ultrabook that preformed at 2/3-3/4 the performance of my machine. I really wanted an Ultrabook because of the power and portability, but after shopping for 3-4 months, I decided I was better served by two machines, one designed to be a giant powerhouse and another designed to be an ultraportable low power machine, than I would be by one that tried to strike a balance between the two. I recognize that I am in a minority in that respect, but I am also far from the only one.
As far as an ultrabook being better than a Chromebook, well, yes, an ultrabook is more capable than a Chromebook. I'm not arguing otherwise. What I am arguing is the I personally wanted a device that was more "work-centric" than a tablet, inexpensive, and ultra-portable. A Chromebook does everything I need from that device, so why spend the extra on an Ultrabook? For people who have and need desktops or large laptops, but want something portable to complement that, a Chromebook is a good option. I didn't need a second Windows machine. I didn't want a cheap Windows machine because they are rarely any good. My Chromebook gets decent battery life, is light and portable, was very cheap, and does everything I wanted. There is no $250 Windows laptop that would have done everything I wanted as well as my Chromebook does.
I totally agree. I know there is a market for it. It just doesn't appear to be a big market.
Chrome books appear to be competing with low end laptops. But people strapped for cash would, IMO, rather have a device that does more for the same price. People who just want a lighter laptop but have money will probably buy an ultrabook instead too.
The only way I even know these are selling is through the Internet. If it wasn't for that I'd barely know they exist.
It really, really depends on people's use cases. If someone has low demands for their laptop, either because they aren't a power user or have a desktop that they already use as a work station, a Chromebook can be just as good as or better than a cheap Windows laptop. Now, for someone who is a mid to power user and wants a single machine, a Chromebook wouldn't be a good choice. I think a large portion of college students would be just fine with only a Chromebook, especially for the first year or two when they may still be figuring out their major and thus what they will need from a higher powered machine.
As I said above, Ultrabooks are great for a lot of people. I got an i3 powered ultrabook for my wife (who honestly does not do a single thing on it she couldn't do on a Chromebook that cost half as much). However, ultrabooks have drawbacks too. They are not as powerful as larger machines. They also tend to be more expensive than similarly powerful but less portable machines. These are not deal breakers for many, many people, but they are drawbacks none the less.
I am done in this thread. Actual owners of these machines who have actual uses cases where a Chromebook acutally suits our real world needs better than a Windows laptop have told you our uses and reasons. If you want to think we are full of it, fine, but I have decided you guys can't be (or don't want to be) convinced that Chromebooks can be very good choices. They make great second machines that do very different things than a tablet. They are great for people with low demand computer use. I love having my files in the cloud because I can access them on any computer, home or away, without having to carry around a flashdrive or external hard drive.
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