Chromebooks are good enough for browsing the web and playing flash games. But for programming you would need to install Linux. The HDD space on those things is pretty small (because it's solid state). So I am not sure how good it would be for programming. You can find some pretty cheap HP laptops that are decent.

Chromebooks are good enough for browsing the web and playing flash games. But for programming you would need to install Linux. The HDD space on those things is pretty small (because it's solid state). So I am not sure how good it would be for programming. You can find some pretty cheap HP laptops that are decent.

The acer C7 has a 320 GB HDD at 5400 RPMs but you can change it out I'm pretty sure.

It's not very fun to program on a computer that has a keyboard that can fail in the first few months.

The "y" key on my samsung chrome book requires some very hard presses to get a response.

If you can get rid off Chrome-OS, then its a very good option. Otherwise, your programming desires will be limited by in-browser IDEs, which is not a good option for complicated projects.

I would be able to get rid of Chrome-OS or dual boot it. The only thing that's particularly bad about the C7 is the batterly life.

There may well be cloud or cross-compilers for Windows, but you'd still want to test - generally writing for Windows is easier with a real Windows installation (as is the case with most OSs). (It's unclear what other computers you have - e.g., do you already have a Windows desktop, and you're after a cheap portable option? Or would this be your only computer? Etc.)

I think realistic options for low-cost portable programming include:

* Buy a Chromebook, install Linux on it.
* Find another cheap laptop with Linux on it, or no OS on it (i.e., the point being that without the Windows licence, it should be cheaper) - anyone have suggestions?
* Just get a Windows laptop anyway, even if it's slightly more.
* Find a netbook (whilst you still can) - the Windows models are cheaper (due to running "Windows Starter"), and there were Linux versions too. (Netbooks have Atom CPUs which are lower power than other x86, but I find still reasonable for programming, I don't know how the Chromebook CPUs compare; also some netbooks have really great battery life, and are ultra-portable.)

I think the first one sounds fine - but you really are better off with an OS like Windows or Linux for general purpose programming, not ChromeOS.

That's what I planned on doing for the most part, was buying a chromebook and putting linux on it for a dual boot.