Two big things that affected the cross platform experience and perception of speed at the time were the twin pillars of the late 90s web, Internet Explorer and

Two big things that affected the cross platform experience and perception of speed at the time were the twin pillars of the late 90s web, Internet Explorer and Flash, both of which had superior optimization for Windows and x86. The introduction of Safari is an underrated milestone in changing that, and I would suggest the Mac didn’t really match the Windows browsing experience inclusive of Flash until the introduction of Intel Macs.