I think the hard thing here is that they want to keep the Linux VMs totally isolated from ChromeOS itself, so that they aren't opening up users to attacks. This is taking a lot of effort to get right.
I will say, the Pixelbook was super underpowered. They use the ultra-portable Intel CPUs that have a TDP of 7W, which makes them super slow with anything CPU intensive. The Dragonfly chrombook has a 15W base power usage, and can boost up to 55W, which allows for way more CPU intensive operations.
Yeah, they are half-baked in that they are trying to be a VM for Android and Linux apps, and neither are perfect yet. As far as I can tell, both are still receiving attention.