Hopefully like some other chromebooks have been, they will be relatively hackable (e.g.: they will make it easy to install your own OS on too if you want).
edit: relatively easy -- I'm typing this on a Toshiba Chromebook on which I flashed a new BIOS to turn it into a regular PC laptop. Had to do the washer removal trick, etc. I think this was a good trade off on Google's part, between security and freedom, actually.
I have one of the earlier samsung Chromebooks with the exynos processor. I flashed Linux to it no sweat (I did not have to open it up or anything), but the graphics drivers were terrible and I was forever stuck on some 3.x kernel because not all the hardware drivers had been mainlined (or something). I couldn't even watch 480p non-fullscreen YouTube videos at 10 fps - that's how unusable the Linux drivers were. I was able to get Stepmania to run on it just for kicks, and it got < 2 fps. Literally worse than a 1st-gen Raspberry Pi.
So... don't rely on it unless you know the drivers are in order or don't need any realtime graphics.
edit: relatively easy -- I'm typing this on a Toshiba Chromebook on which I flashed a new BIOS to turn it into a regular PC laptop. Had to do the washer removal trick, etc. I think this was a good trade off on Google's part, between security and freedom, actually.