Since the CHIP is similar to other single chip SOC platforms like the Raspberry Pi, beagle bone, etc, the use cases are very similar. The CHIP has the advantage of being smaller in size than the other small cpu's but also much cheaper.
The thing that really got me was their aim of being entirely open source. I like the Pi, but there's a lot of stuff closed off.
I think the popularity of the Pi has helped there.
(The adapters are great, but depending on what you're plugging in, you may need to supply power as well. A microUSB cable is included in the box. If what you want to display has HDCP, that needs to be removed before the adapter.)