Chrome OS is designed primarily to work with applications such as e-mail, word-processors, calendars and the like that are stored in the cloud rather than on a user's hard-drive.
If you're absolutely certain you're going to run only text-based word processors or spreadsheets on an IBM-compatible, or simple word processors and spreadsheets on a Mac, you can settle for a basic box with one megabyte of memory and a 40-megabyte hard drive.
Exxon Enterprises was typical, investing in high-tech businesses that had nothing to do with oil exploration -- losing out in word processors and computerized speech recognition.