Despite the initial Chromebooks being widely considered a failure, they push on with the next iteration of this product. Google has the kind of determination that only obscene amounts of money can buy.
It was mostly a pricing failure, one which they unfortunately repeated again this time. Yes, it did have usability problems, and it has been greatly improved, but you know as they say: there is no bad product, only bad pricing.
Chromebooks would sell for $200, or free on contract with LTE. They won't sell for $450.