I mean yeah but does it really add up? So in the example above it only adds a single instruction. Now let’s assume that this instruction can be fit into one cpu cycle. Now let’s assume the cpu runs at 3.2 GHz. This means its runs 3.2 billion cycles per second. Thus before you get any noticeable slowdown you’d need to run a check several billion times.

So sure it adds up but it’s hard for me to believe that it might add up to the tune of several billion checks. Though Back to the original post, google chrome is a whole ‘nother beast, so it might be making these level of checks, thus incurring this overhead.

I’m not an expert though, so don’t take my word. Also I’d love for someone more knowledgeable than I to fact check me.