Unsubstantiated rumors should always be treated with scepticism, and that's doubly true for any rumors that involve Google's upcoming Chrome OS. That said, I've stumbled upon some rather interesting news from over in China. According to Shanzai.com (via PC World) Chinese manufacturer Lemote is loading Chrome onto its new line of netbooks to replace their terrible proprietary OS.

These new Lemote netbooks might hit the market as soon as October, which would put them well ahead of Google's stated 2010 release for Chrome. If these netbooks do hit in October or November, they still won't do us in the U.S. much good. Lemote won't be shipping their netbooks overseas, so the most we'll benefit from this is some screenshots of the Chrome OS in action.

Of course, as soon as the first Chromed computers sell, someone is going to put the OS up online for eager torrenters. Sure, it'll be in Chinese, but someone will find a way to make it work. If these rumors prove true and we do see Chrome-loaded netbooks within a month or two, I'm betting now that we'll see our first 'hacked' Chrome machine a week or two later.