You should still be able to learn quite a bit with just the Chromebook. After reading the article, I'm thinking about getting one myself so I can get back into learning web development again.
Did you end up buying the Acer C720?
Did you end up buying the Acer C720?
That will be the one I more than likely go with. I was worried about 2GB of RAM coming from a Windows background, 2GB isnt anything. But apparently it runs fine in Ubuntu.