yes do try Chrome, trefall...i switched to it a long time ago from firefox....it takes up less real estate then firefox and i think it has the best web page rendering of all the browsers (probably because it is almost a "kissing cousin" underneath with the mac safari web browser (only even better)
i use the actual Chrome (not chromium) which you can "deb" download from their site...has it's own built in flash and built in pdf file viewer which the open source version (Chromium) does not...and it even adds an automatic updater (you will get the updated versions through your mint updater)...
glad to hear mint 12 is working out for you and that you're enjoying Cinnamon
and i know what you mean...though i am looking forward to the added features and flexibility in it, i am doing just fine with it even as it is now...