I am a perpetual tinkerer and I like my diy systems and maintaining arch so I know that ChromeOS isn't for me for everyday use but it is a very compelling environment for some things.

ChromeOS does a damn good job of providing a very locked down environment for enterprise or non technical users. It is a far more straightforward appliance like model of computing than any legacy desktop environment. If it was using Wayland and offered the option of flatpak and steam out of the box as well as android app compatibility it would do a lot to counter some of the criticisms about their flexibility.

Like linux netbooks, chromebooks both benefitted from the shitty low end hardware niche market and then became defined by it, and then outcompeted as low cost laptops and mobile squeeze them. There is a chicken and egg though. Nobody is going to buy or sell a system with high end performance when it is presented only as a web browser appliance.