The wait is over.  Google Chrome for Mac is now available in beta. It’s still missing a few features that are in the Windows version (like support for extensions), but the browser is lickety-split and more-or-less stable.

I’ve been holding off really using Chrome until now. But I’m ready for something faster and less crashy than Firefox. (Crosses fingers).

Right from the gate, you can apply themes from a gallery to trick out your browser. Are you more into gnomes (“Infected Mushroom” theme) or blurred out images of the Brooklyn Bridge (“Donna Karan” theme)? Yeah, I’m gonna stick to the minimal default look. Although one thing that takes getting used to is the almost complete lack of toolbar real estate. Where are all the buttons?

One little feature I like, which Chrome borrows from Safari, is that when you click on a new tab, it shows you a gallery of recent sites you’ve visited. And you can drag a tab off to detach it as a separate window. Handy.

Update: Google also released Chrome for Linux and Extensions for Windows and Linux (in beta). More details on the Google Blog.