According to Google, “When you’re on a webpage that runs Flash, we’ll intelligently pause content (like Flash animations) that aren’t central to the webpage, while keeping central content (like a video) playing without interruption.” Google also notes that in the event it pauses content that you want, you can always go ahead and unpause it manually.
Google believes that by introducing this feature, it should significantly improve upon laptop battery life, thus letting you surf the web longer without having to seek out a power outlet. That being said this is just one of the many ways that can conserve battery life on your laptop so if you find yourself constantly running low on juice while surfing, then this is a feature you’ll want to look out for.
Unfortunately this battery saving feature is only in the beta version of Chrome, so if you’d rather wait for the official and final release, Google says that users can look forward to the update being pushed out soon. In the meantime we have to wonder when Google will get around to fixing Chrome’s memory drain issue.