Chromebooks are popular, and if you doubt that, just ask Dell. The computer manufacturer has halted sales of their 11-inch Chromebook, all because demand was too high. Still available for educational purposes, the average consumer is out of luck for a while. In an email to PC World, a Dell spokesperson said “Due to strong demand, the Dell Chromebook 11 is currently not available for order on Dell.com. It continues to be available for our education customers and can be ordered through their sales representative”. The fever-pitch sales seem only to affect the Chromebook 11 in dell’s lineup, which originally went on sale in December of 2013.
Dell’s only Chromebook is at least temporarily unavailable for online purchase through the company’s website, only seven months after the model started shipping. Facing rising commercial demand for the devices, Dell has not been able to keep up with orders. The Chromebook 11, which shipped in December, is listed as unavailable on Dell’s Chromebook website, and the company is asking potential buyers to call in orders. “Due to strong demand, the Dell Chromebook 11 is currently not available for order on Dell.com. It continues to be available for our education customers and can be ordered through their sales representative,” said Ellen Murphy, a Dell spokeswoman, in an email. The laptop will eventually come online again, though the company did not provide a specific date. With Dell keeping Chromebook purchases open mainly to commercial customers, individual buyers may have to turn to competitive products from Samsung, Toshiba, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard, which are available online starting at under $200. The Chromebook is a lightweight, low-cost computer for those who do most of their computing online. It has Google’s Chrome OS, and most applications needs wireless connectivity. However, more offline applications are becoming available.