Skype features are very limited for Chromebooks. While some features of Skype can be used in a web browser at www.Skype.com, the main features (voice & video) are not available yet according to the following article written in June 2015. Microsoft is working on bringing voice and video to www.Skype.com, but no further information beyond June 2015 came up in a Google search.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2937803/skype-for-web-brings-some-of-skype-to-chromebooks.html


You may want to look at an inexpensive Windows laptop like the HP Stream 11 ($180) or HP Pavilion X2 Detachable 2-in-1 ($330) to Skype with.


http://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-11.6-Stream-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Celeron-Processor-2GB-Memory-32GB-Hard-Drive-Windows-8.1-and-Microsoft-Office-365-Personal-1-yr-subscription/39073484
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-xgNlp-L7A

http://store.hp.com/us/en/ContentView?eSpotName=PavilionX2&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151&
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73__csZpwtE
 
Does it have to be Skype? Or will any video chat service do? Skype has always been a problem even back in the early 2000s because their communication protocol was proprietary. This limitation has mostly gone away as companies moved to web clients, but Skype has been one of the companies which refused to release a decent web client. You cannot get it working on any device unless Skype (now Microsoft) deems the device worthy of a native Skype app.

If you just want video chat, Google Hangouts works fine from a web browser.
https://support.google.com/hangouts/answer/6098392
 

Karen_2015

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Karen_2015

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I've been doing some reading and understand that Chromebooks are pretty limited in this area. Thank you for all the avenues of information
 

Karen_2015

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Karen_2015

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I'm mostly just wondering as I'm thinking of buying a Chromebook and was needing to know about the skype issue. But as you say there are other options. I like the Hangouts idea, thank you.