Better how? Cheaper? Probably. More accurate? Possibly - as long as it's a high quality unlined barrel, and your shooting skills are already 1/4MOA to notice a possible difference.
From my perspective, a chrome lined barrel ensures a decent level of quality control went into the barrel, since really cheap barrel makers don't chrome line because of the extra cost, and a cheap unlined barrel is likely to be less accurate than any chrome lined barrel.
In the mid range, chrome lined and unlined barrels will cost about the same, and there may be a slight improvement in accuracy with a mid grade unlined barrel over a chrome lined barrel of similar cost.
For really top-end accuracy, you are correct that unless very carefully (and expensively) done, the chrome deposition will be uneven, and gives an edge in accuracy to a unlined match barrel. It's certainly possible to make a chrome lined barrel every bit as accurate as an air gauged unlined match barrel, but it would be more expensive than the unlined match barrel at that point, and a match shooter's needs don't require the chrome lining and wouldn't justify the cost of a 'match quality' chrome lining job.
The FN SPR has a match grade 1/8 MOA chrome lined barrel, so it can be done.