Either that, or they'll double in number compared to the January-June period

Jul 17, 2013 14:43 GMT  ·  By

Laptops with little to no on-board storage (though this has been slowly changing) and featuring Google's Chrome OS operating system have been getting more attention from the media lately.

That is both a cause and a result of the rising demand for such laptops, as paradoxical as it sounds.

Acer, HP, Lenovo and Samsung all have one such notebook up for sale, or are getting ready to launch one.

And with Windows 8 PC demand so low, people may just look towards Chromebooks more and more, assuming they don't just decide to get a tablet and be done with it.

In any case, it is the belief of some parties that shipments of Chomebooks will double or even triple in the second half of the year.

Of course, if it happens, it will be as much testament to the marketing viability of the laptops as to the poor sales up to this point.

Then again, Chromebooks from Acer, Samsung and Google account for 25% of the sub-$300 US notebook market, so I can't really claim they are rejects.