Re: How about an octal-core ARM based laptop/netbook?
Absolutely no problem with Chromebooks and yes they are great hardware. My workhorse Linux laptop is a second hand Chromebook (Acer C710 from eBay @ £92) with CoreBoot reflashed with SeaBIOS running Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (updated to 8GB RAM and with a 128GB SSD). Great little laptop - love it - but this is not an installation process that the majority of people would be able (or willing) to do. Yes I know you can do the Crouton thing but if you accidentally 'reset' your Chromebook you wipe out your data. If somebody would sell a laptop set up (from boot) to run Ubuntu, Linux Mint (or another similar easy-to-use distribution) even if it was x86 (like the Acer C710) that would be great (especially using CoreBoot). What would be BETTER would be an ARM laptop which is just as powerful but uses 1/2 or 1/4 of the power.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
