Google's Chromebooks are not high-end performance computers for tech professionals or gamers, but they sure are cheap and relatively easy to use. That's why the Google Chromebook platform reportedly grew significantly last year, and is likely to be more pervasive in 2014 as well. 

2013: A Good Start

New reports from market research group NPD shows that from January to November 2013, in the U.S. market, Chromebook's share of the overall computer market had grown quite a bit: up to 9.6 percent of the total market share, compared to 0.2 percent the year prior, according NPD figures sited by the Register. 

The reason for such growth is pretty simple: with the exception of the Google-made Chromebook Pixel, in 2013, Chromebooks were tantalizingly cheap and coming out in ever-increasing numbers of variants, styles, and screen sizes. Last year we saw several new Chromebooks out of HP, Toshiba, and Acer -- the last of which offered the first affordable touchscreen variant, as well as an updated model of its first Chromebook in time for the holiday shopping season at a price as low as most subsidized smartphones.

Speaking of the holiday shopping season, Amazon reported that two out of the three of its best-selling notebooks were Chromebooks.

With prices of Chromebooks usually below the $300 mark -- about the cost of a decent tablet -- it's no surprise that in 2013, laptops running Google's Chrome OS took off while market shares of more expensive Apple and Windows-based notebook computers fell. 

According to NPD's research, expensive Apple laptops took only 1.8 percent of the U.S. market in 2013, which is down from 2.6 percent in 2012. The largest laptop market share, still held with a considerable lead by Windows laptops, was 34.1 percent, but even that was down 8.8 percent from the year before (coincidentally, the combined loss of market share percentage from Apple and Windows equals 9.6 percent -- Chromebook's take in 2013). 

Chromebook Explosion in 2014?

With this kind of growth and business model -- appealing to low cost buyers who want the essentials of a laptop and need something more than a tablet, but also know to be wary of ultra-cheap Windows machines that quickly become bloated, slow, and eventually useless -- expect Chromebooks to continue to rise in popularity, despite Microsoft's attempt at clever "Scroogled" defensive marketing. 

Google pulled off something of a coup when it got Windows PC manufacturer HP on board with Chrome OS, and it looks like more are jumping on the Google bandwagon. Dell's first Chromebook, aimed at school use, is due this January. Following that, Toshiba has a Chromebook slated for February, Sony is expected to release a Vaio Chromebook in the spring, Asus is working on a couple, and Lenovo is fully on board to release several Chromebook models by summer. 

"I think Chromebooks can be very impactful in the market really quickly," Parker said to CNET at the Consumer Electronics Show. "We believe the market will accelerate greatly in the next 12 months." 

So does market researcher Gartner, another market researcher cited by the Register, and it doesn't believe Chromebooks will slow down any time soon either. Gartner sees Chromebook sales hitting 4.79 million in 2014 a 160 percent growth over last year, and nearly doubling the year after. By 2017, Gartner's (admittedly optimistic) appraisal is that Chromebooks will take up a 4.5 percent share of the world PC market.

So What?

For our readers, this news means a couple of things. First, if you're in the market for a cheap, basic, useful laptop, think about Chrome OS machines, but maybe hold off on buying one for the time being. The current offerings are affordable and, since Chrome OS is built to work on low spec'd, lower-performance machines, perfectly decent. 

But within a few months, there will be more competition from several manufacturers, pressuring them to differentiate their laptops and driving down the price. That means more configurations to choose from, possibly even cheaper Chromebook prices, and likely lots of manufacturer-added bonuses and incentives -- like free cloud storage subscriptions or included accessories that might be appealing. 

Buying a Chromebook or not, this trend definitely means you'll run into a machine running Google's Chrome OS in the future, whether at school, a job, or at a friend's house. You might want to try it out on your current laptop to see what the fuss is about.