Yes - I ran Kubuntu as a chroot for many years until Google dropped support on ChromeOS. Six years if you are lucky but more likely around four or less if you buy the discounted models. After that you suffer from an ancient kernel and device drivers with no updating or security fixes with all the issues that brings.
The hardware (Samsung) was great and it would have been really nice to have converted it to run a preferred Linux distribution natively. But for most Chromebook models the BIOS is effectively locked. So now it's landfill whilst it's Thinkpad peer group soldier on.
IMHO it's worth paying the windows tax (or better - get a s/h win machine) if you want a cheap Linux notebook. Low spec budget Win PCs run Windows so badly that they often get dumped on fleabay at exciting prices. And it's rather green to give them a second more useful life.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
