Re: Ah....oh dear....
Whilst some of those are true, it's not entirely fair:
"No need for AV."
Neither on Linux, and Windows 8 has it built it (and if it's like Security Essentials, it never bothers you anyway - it was only the stuff like AVG that constantly pesters you).
"Take the Chromebook out of the box and within 10 seconds of switch on you are up and running."
It's quick as things go - though I note my Windows laptop boots quicker than my Android Galaxy Nexus. Most laptops are slow because of the terrible slow hard disks, not the OS - they do much better with SSD.
"If you mess it up you just reset it and log in again."
Most Windows laptops offer this, though personally I dislike it, I'd rather fix things without having to have the only option as "reset everything to default".
"Hardly any settings to mess around with."
I'm not sure I've ever had to mess around with a setting on any recent OS.
"No need to learn CLI or other such dark arts."
What is this, the 1980s? I've not *had* to on other OSs.
"No worries about backups."
So it does an offline backup automatically, does it?
Yes, it's true that storing on Google is more reliable than the average person's hard disk, but this is not a *back up*. And it's not clear to me that managing an offline backup of Google is easier than the backup solutions for other OSs?
"No need to call in the IT chappie/son to fix it."
The laptop is physically indestructable? Most of my parents' IT queries are about Internet/browser related stuff, which would still apply.
"Oh and it costs £200"
Yes they finally got the price right - it made no sense when they cost more than a similarly specced laptop even with the Windows licence fee. Though note there are other low cost laptops too (and not just netbooks).