Who will be the first to run Chrome OS?

A number of PC manufacturers are reportedly prepping Chrome-based devices, including Dell, Acer and Hewlett Packard.

Indeed, the above-mentioned OEMs were recently spotted in the Chromium OS Git repository by Lee Mathews of Download Squad

“The overlay-x86 bits take care of configuring Chrome’s hardware support during the build process – so these would seem to indicate that Dell, Acer, and HP might be at the point where they’re building the OS for specific configs,” wrote Mathews.

“Apart from the conspicuous files, all three have already been connected to Chrome OS in some way. Dell engineers put together a customized build for their Mini 10V netbook shortly after Google opened the Chromium OS code…[and] HP is tinkering with Cloud Print – which will feature prominently in Chrome OS.”

Mathews also noted that Acer could theoretically be “trying [to] cram” a Chrome OS dual boot option onto a future netbook.

“[Still], they already tried an Android/Windows combo with the AOD250, but that didn’t turn out so well,” he added.