Funny, I just received my new Chromebook yesterday - an HP 14. Ive only played with it a few hours but am pretty darned impressed. That said, Ill probably wind up wiping it and installing Linux. Im a Usenet fan and there are no workable Usenet Chrome apps, I do a ton of work at the console and it doesnt have a great terminal app that I can see, and it doesnt seem to have a good text editor. But I admit Im not exactly the target user group for a Chromebook. Other than that, if you are willing to stay within Chromes use cases, its pretty nice, and the HP machine is surprisingly good hardware for $200. Keyboard is decent (better than my HP laptop at work, actually), fast on and off, quick wireless, etc. Im more impressed than I thought Id be.
If I wipe it, Im installing BodhiLinux, which is a Ubuntu core with E17 (Enlightenment) on the desktop. Its a lovely distro, and E17 is way more usable and configurable/tweakable than either Gnome3 or Unity.