If we fail to change the dimensions of a chrome window we create a new one with the desired dimensions and migrate the tabs.

tabmigration.js

// Workaround for http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=50138

chrome.windows.getCurrent(function(win){
  var update = {height: 480, width: 320};
  chrome.windows.update(win.id, update, function(win){
  
    // If the window isn't the dimensions we set to it
    // it means it's maximized and we'll create a new window.
    if( win.height !== update.height && win.width !== update.width ){
      chrome.tabs.getAllInWindow(win.id, function(tabs){
      
        // Find the tab that was selected in the original window.
        var selected = tabs.filter(function(tab){return tab.selected;})[0];
        
        // We can move one tab over "for free" when we create the window.
        // This also means we don't have to destroy the empty tab that comes
        // with creating a new window.
        update.tabId = tabs.pop().id;
        chrome.windows.create(update, function(newwin){
        
          // Preserve tab order by appending them in reverse.
          var appended = 1;
          tabs.reverse().forEach(function(tab){
            chrome.tabs.move(tab.id, { windowId: newwin.id, index: 0 }, function(){
              // When we are done moving all the tabs over focus the
              // originally selected tab
              if(appended < tabs.length){
                appended++;
              }else{
                chrome.tabs.update(selected.id, {selected: true});
              }
            });
          });
        });
      });
    }
  });
});