For the first time since they were created, Google's Chromebooks are finally a force to be reckoned with. Sales-wise, anyway. During the first quarter of 2016, Chromebooks were able to outsell Apple's Macs, signifying the first time the browser-based machines out-shipped a competing PC platform.

Of course, the fact that more Chromebooks were sold during the first three months of the year could be attributed to the fact that Apple is not really having a good year. In fact, from January to March, Mac sales fell 9 percent internationally compared to the product's sales figures from 2015.

Also, the huge rise in the Chromebooks' sales figures is vastly affected by the fact that the U.S. education system is quickly embracing the machine for its K-12 program. Since the browser-based machines were initially introduced, Google has already moved its efforts towards marketing the Chromebook as the ideal computer for schools.

Though Chromebooks are usually low-powered devices, the fact that they are offered at really affordable prices makes the machines very attractive to many consumers. Of course, being computers which require very little maintenance further helps the device's case.

With the Chromebook's sales figures ever increasing, the market for low-powered Windows devices is actually at risk. In this sense, Macs are actually pretty safe, since Apple's machines are marketed towards a very different demographic as those targeted by the Chromebook.

However, entry-level Windows laptops, which rely on their low price as their main selling point, have increasingly found themselves outperformed by Google's simple device. After all, a low-powered machine running Windows 10 would perform far worse than a low-powered computer running Chrome OS.

With Google's current efforts at bringing Android and Chrome OS into a unified platform, Chromebooks are set to get only better. After all, Chrome OS has already gotten pretty formidable over the years. Once the devices are able to run Android apps, the Chrome OS ecosystem would get a very prominent boost.

If Chromebooks continue on their current rise, the time might very come when Google's simple devices would be the everyman's computer. 

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