Mac OS X 10.4.9 has some minor performance improvements that show up in OpenGL performance, especially on an advanced video card. The test was conducted by Macsonly.
The tests were conducted on a 2.33 GHz Mac Book Pro, C2D with an ATI X1900 video card and a 2.33 GHz 24-inch iMac C2D and an Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT video card.
There were small percentage increases in performance in the graphics benchmarks for the MacBook Pro. However, the iMac did not fare as well, showing negligible changes. The improvements were attributed to the new ATI drivers in the release.
In addition, "we have used Mac OS X 10.4.9 on a wide range of Macs, both PowerPC-based and Intel-based, for nearly a week without finding any problems caused by the upgrade," Macsonly said.