NPD: Chromebooks Enjoy 21% of Notebook Sales in 2013

New figures released from NPD Group show that Chromebooks are making quite a foothold in laptop market, and that might be worrisome news for Microsoft — Windows notebook sales exhibited no growth between 2013 and 2012, claims NPD.

It's unclear what effect, if any, Chromebooks had on Apple notebook sales, though NPD does note that Apple desktop and laptop sales combined dropped seven percent.

Back to the Chromebooks: According to NPD, Chromebook sales hit a total of 1.76 million units between January and November of this year, which is quite a bit of a jump from the 400,000 units that made it out in 2012. In total, NPD's figures indicate that Chromebooks jumped from virtually nothing in 2012 to 21 percent of all notebook sales in 2013.

That's good news for Google and its Chrome OS operating system, and we're not done yet. A recent press release from Amazon itself confirms that Chromebooks took two of the top three spots for "holiday best sellers" – specifically, a Samsung Chromebook and an Acer Chromebook. It's unclear just what Chromebook Amazon is technically referring to in its announcement, as Acer sells both the C710 and C720 Chromebooks (Samsung basically sells a single Samsung Chromebook in 3G or Wi-Fi editions).

We can only assume that it's Acer's C720 Chromebook that's taking top honors in Amazon's callout, as it's currently listed as Amazon's top-selling laptop computer as of this article's writing. Samsung's Chromebook comes in second place, with Asus' recently released Transformer Book T100 (a Windows 8-based laptop/tablet hybrid) taking third. It's back to Acer's C720P Chromebook for fourth – identical to the C720 in all respects save for storage capacity, which bumps up to 32GB of space over the C720's 16GB.

What makes for Chromebooks' success? First up, it's likely the price: Google's decision to freely license and distribute Chrome OS gives laptop manufacturers the opportunity to cut costs from their final products. This, in turn, can provide a powerful incentive for shoppers looking for a suitable laptop without breaking the bank – in other words, it gives Chromebooks a better chance of undercutting Windows' devices.

Second, since Chrome OS focuses on Web-based apps, it's not as if the notebooks themselves need beefy specs to function. That's more cost-savings for the laptops, and it also helps deliver an experience that rival Microsoft simply can't touch. There's no Web-based operating system in Microsoft's wheelhouse; it's an area that Microsoft, quite simply, has no response for.

Similarly, it hasn't helped that Windows 8 has received a fairly bland response. This only further incentivizes shoppers to check out alternative platforms like Chrome OS or Apple's OSX — or different hardware entirely, rather than the traditional "Wintel" laptop setup that's held court in the portable computing landscape for some time.

"Yet the Windows PC in commercial channels is clearly not dead, and its biggest brand proponents, HP and Lenovo, remain deeply committed to that product. However, as businesses upgrade from older machines and operating systems in the year ahead, the long-term trend is clearly towards greater hardware diversity, which all manufacturers will need to embrace in order to continue to grow," said NPD vice president Stephen Baker, in a statement.

Check out PCMag Live video below, where Dan Costa and Sascha Segan discuss NPD's claims.