Things I really like:

• Launch speed. Brings up a new instance of a browser at blistering speed. FF3 takes anywhere up to 5-10 seconds for me to launch due to my penchant for extensions.
• Single process per tab. This means that if a given page causes my browser to go haywire, hey, only that tab is lost. Everything else is fine.
• Plugins like Flash also run in a separate process. Again, this helps stability a lot.
• Speed. This browser feels like it’s giving Safari 3.1 a run for the money, and even feels faster than FF3. It makes IE7 and especially IE6 look pretty pathetic. That’s probably because Safari and Chrome both use WebKit as their rendering engine.
• Javascript performance. The browser uses a Javascript virtual machine, and JS code is compiled on the fly to faster VM bytecode. This has resulted in some impressive benchmarks. [See graph here]
• Tab organization. Middle/control-clicking opens a tab to the right of your current tab. For tab-aholics like me, this means that linked article you meant to read is handy and close, not stuck at the end of your huge tab list, lonely and forgotten. Also, if you right-click a tab, you get options to “Close other tabs”, “Close tabs to the right”, and “Close tabs opened by this tab“. Very handy.
• The OmniBar. Search google, history, and bookmarks straight from the URL bar, kind of like the URL bar in FF3, only better executed.

Things I like:

• Integrated Google Gears. Offline support for nearly all Google apps, as well as WordPress, etc.
• Web application links. Create desktop shortcuts to a minimal Chrome window for use on any web app, with special support for Google Apps like GMail.
• Incognito mode, similar to private browsing mode on Safari. Erases all your tracks when the window/tab is closed.

Things I don’t like:

• Memory usage. While I’m not starving for RAM by any stretch of the imagination (work PC/laptop have 2GB, desktop has 4GB) the benefits of running a process per tab means that for a user with tab-addiction, you could eat up 1GB+ of RAM by everyday browsing. Then again, I’ve done that and more with FF3, due in part to my other addiction: extensions. Right now, I’m using ~240MB for 8 tabs, two of which are ~70 each.
• No bookmark bar (that I know of). Does result in a cleaner interface though.
• No extension/theme support yet, but I know it’s in the works.
• The EULA, before they changed it. It used to say that Google pretty much owned everything you do inside a Chrome window.
• Missing OSX/Linux builds.
• No “master password”-type security setting.

Things I really don’t like:

• Nothing!

On the other hand, using 64-bit Vista with SP1, I noticed no appreciable slowdowns with my games, but I have no hard numbers so it’s all subjective. Plus, I was playing a DX10 game I hadn’t played in a long while, or ever on Vista. Hellgate London, if you’re curious. However, it’s quite pretty on DX10, and I was running with maxed settings except AA was on “Medium”.

Also loaded up the Orange Pack along with some other non-graphically-impressive games I had a hankering for, including Space Empires IV & V, and Outpost 2, of all things. A Windows 95 game, FFS!

I think some of the noticeable slowdown here and there on HGL and the Steam games was a harddrive bottleneck. Vista is loaded on my old SATA1.5 120GB. If and when I move it to the new-ish 320GB SATA3 from WestDig, I think games will show themselves to be pretty snappy with 4GB to play with.

Definitely a leap from 32-bit. Only 2.5GB available after XP accounts for my SLI 512MB vidcards. Alt-tabbing on Vista was very quick, much faster than 32-bit XP.

Still playing with the WMP11/Media Center integration with my 360.

I’d like to note that this a legit copy of Vista Ultimate, I have my own (32-bit) copy purchased at a local shop for a reasonable sum. I still need to order my own 64-bit DVD from Microsoft, which they offer as a courtesy for a shipping fee. But I’m using my own CD key.