Acer's new 17-inch Chromebook could be one of the stepping stones Chrome-based laptops need to become more mainstream.

Chromebooks may already be a popular device for businesses and education due to their portability, easy cloud access, and overall affordability, but when it comes to filling the need for more powerful, dedicated home computing systems, the current lineup just isn’t up to the task. However, we could finally see a change with the release of larger, more powerful Chromebooks like the Acer Chromebook 317.

"Chromebooks have been the butt of laptop jokes for a while now. The launch of bigger, more powerful versions can only mean one thing: that the Chromebook revolution has come of age," Alina Clark, a technology and software expert, told Lifewire in an email interview.

Putting a 17-inch display on a Chromebook might not seem like a big step on its own, but when you look at the bigger picture, signs of a “Chromebook revolution,” as Clark called it, seem increasingly likely.