I'm using Arch on a very old computer with Chrome and it crashes pretty often, plus the CPU consumption is very high.
I read that using cfs-zen-tweaks could improve the responsiveness.
Which is better, using cfs-zen-tweaks or a linux-zen kernel? What is the difference?
I have an older laptop with low processing power as well, I use it on the go as it's very light and the battery lasts quite long. It wasn't unstable, though, but got unresponsive whenever I did an update in the background. I run Arch on it.
I moved from the vanilla kernel over to the cfs-zen tweaks, which made a difference in responsiveness. I wanted even more and installed the zen kernel, I can't really tell the difference to the cfs-patches allone, but in general it is responding really well even in stressfull situations.
Just give it a go and test it out, on most distributions it's quite easy to switch back and forth between the zen kernel and the vanilla kernel.
A different kernel is highly unlikely to improve the application CPU use but it may make your system slightly more responsive.
cfs-zen-tweaks or a linux-zen kernel
Haven't used any, been using the vanilla kernel since forever. The difference is down to applied patches and defaults.
Chrome crashes pretty often
This could indicate bad RAM which you could test using MemTest86
