I don't think there are any laptops comparable to the Acer C720 performance (Haswell) at a comparable price. It benchmarks at about half a 2013 Macbook Air (also Haswell).
That said, I'd whack ubuntu on it, and love it as a netbook.
But I do doubt chromebooks will be big hit, they're neither fish nor foul, since tablets stole netbooks' market.