[csytan]

This is true, but ironically Chrome's dev tools take up more vertical space than Firebug.

I'm happy I've made the switch, though it would be nice if Chrome/webkit traded some flashy icons for a more space efficient table especially in the "Resources" tab.

[masklinn]

If your issue is with the size of the resource icons in the left-hand pane, the inspector (Safari's anyway) has an option called "Use Large resource Rows" which is enabled by default (4th from the left). If you disable it, the lines will be as big as the resource's name itself, without the big icons and the domain.