Leopard is almost 4 times slower

[Ariez]

I think all of the machines in the apple stores boot off of an XServe in the back, thus the slow loading times.

No, they boot off the hard drive.

EDIT: I guess its been mentioned.

 

[KJdanReuben]

My SR MBP runs blazing fast! Installation took a little longer than desired, but it runs great now. It boots in under a minute. Probably about 45 seconds. My iMac G5 also runs great with Leopard. It's faster than I thought it would be. Have no clue why the MBP at Apple would boot slowly, unless it is all the apps installed or that it is set to start from new every time, both of which have been suggested.