That’s a shame, because the type of customer that would likely benefit the most from a Chromebook isn’t even considering one when they walk into a store. Chrome OS is incredibly simple and easy to use, and any person that’s computer literate can pick it up and run with it. It turns on almost instantly, offers the same experience as the Chrome browser that many are familiar with already, and requires virtually no management from the user. And Chromebooks are already really cheap, with decent options starting as low as $179. Compare that to Windows 8, which has proven to be terribly confusing to most people accustomed to older versions of Windows, especially on devices that lack touchscreens and aren’t really designed to work with it.

Certainly, there are other things that can and will hold back the average consumer from buying a Chromebook right now. Even the cheapest Windows laptops typically come with 500GB or more of storage space. The 16GB of standard Chromebook storage won’t get you very far in comparison. Those cheap Windows laptops all also have built-in DVD drives, which some customers do still look for. But neither of those are as important as screen size and are evidence that Google still has a lot of work to do to educate the average consumer on Chromebooks.

The C720 is a fine Chromebook, but it's not the right computer for the majority of people

This brings us back around to where we started: the new Acer C720 is a fine Chromebook, but data shows it’s not the right computer for the majority of people looking to buy an inexpensive laptop for their primary computing needs. It’s just too small. (The same can likely be said for the new Acer Chromebook 13 with the Nvidia processor, but we’ll reserve judgement on that until a review unit is in our hands.)

If Google and its Chromebook partners want to walk away with the cheap laptop market, the bread and butter of Windows, all it seems they have to do is make bigger Chromebooks. Google and its partners could simply put Chrome OS on one of their larger Windows designs and swap out the slow hard drive for a smaller, but faster, Chrome-appropriate SSD. Chromebooks are already doing everything except the one thing they need to do: be bigger. Baker says that’s something that will likely happen at some point. "I think it’s just a matter of time before we see 15-inch Chromebook options."