I have a problem with Chrome eating up too many CPU cycles when idle. I'm guessing background Javascript processes hidden on all the pages start getting out of control. (I use lots of tabs.) I've tried script blockers, but I haven't found one that works well for me. I find NoScript for Firefox much better.

I do like that Chrome has Flash built in so I don't have to install it system-wide. So I use Chrome as a secondary browser.

When on Mac, I prefer Safari because it feels lighter than all of them and seems better with not eating CPU cycles for background tabs.