> Chrome is the only app I have on my Macbook Air that pushes it into overheating, turning it into a lap-frying iron skillet.

This is even more obvious on older Macs. I've got a Core 2 Duo mini that absolutely chokes on more than a few tabs in Chrome/Chromium, but runs acceptably well with Firefox even with ten or more tabs open, and flies with Safari. I really wish someone would put out a Chromium based, stripped down browser for OS X versions older than Mavericks. I think the rendering engine is solid, it's all the fluff that slows it down.