Browser vendors talk about benchmarks all the time but what really matters to me is startup and closing times; here Chrome really shines and FF3.6 is slow as hell. It's probably about perception; maybe the browser should show a window even if it's not really ready (and maybe there is a problem with plugins and add-ons that need to initialize themselves, etc.) Anyway, how is FF4b7 doing in this regard...?
Strange, how often do you open/close your browser?
There is also a shared computer in my home that is used by my wife and my kids; there, browsers are constantly opened and closed since for some reason, most non-tech people (that I know -- and that includes my wife) close and reopen the browser to start a new browsing session.