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The day has finally come. As we were expecting, Google has just released Chrome for Mac, which can now be downloaded by Mac OS X 10.5 or later users.

If you’re anything like us, you’ve been anxiously awaiting the chance to get your hands on the new browser since last year’s release of the Windows version.

Of course, Google Chrome for Mac is just a beta release, and, as we’ve previously reported, you won’t be able to use applications like Gmail that run on Google Gears, but you can take advantage of other Chrome improvements such as speed and Google search right from the address bar.

Here’s a video demo that Google has released:

After you install Chrome on your Mac, you can optionally import your Safari or Firefox settings, which means your bookmarks and certain preferences can carry over from your existing favorite browser. Given that Google Chrome Extensions should launch any day, you might not even have to live without your favorite add-ons for very long (though at this time extensions are not available for the Mac version).

We’ve just installed it for ourselves, and after taking it out for a test drive, our first impressions are that this thing is slick. While we compile our notes, let us know what you think of Google Chrome for Mac in the comments.

The latest Chrome beta build ushers in a great new feature: bookmark syncing. If you use multiple computers, or even just appreciate a cloud backup of your browser bookmarks, this feature will be a boon.

You can grab the new beta build 4.0.223.16 here, which also includes speed improvements by as much as 30% since the current stable release. For more information on how the bookmark sync works in the new build, head on past the break for an introductory video from the Chrome team.

Whether it’s a laptop and desktop, machines at home and at work, or just more than one machine in the house, it’s a pain to try to keep them in sync — you inevitably don’t have access to that one bookmark you’re looking for no matter which machine you’re on. That’s undoubtedly the reason Xmarks syncing extension was so popular in our “Favorite Firefox extensions” Lunchtime Poll.

The bookmark syncing feature actually debuted earlier in the developer version of the browser, but required setting a command-line flag. Now that Chrome supports bookmarking sync natively — if only in beta — will any of you consider switching or perhaps just adding it to your browser arsenal?

Remember that for now, unfortunately, this is only enabled in the Windows version of Chrome (Mac users are sadly still waiting for an official version). You’ll also have to of course download the beta and also enable each computer individually for syncing, by choosing “Synchronize my bookmarks” from the Wrench menu.

Check out the video below and let us know if you plan to use the new syncing feature in Chrome beta.