That's what I would suggest -- it removes a few checks which streamlines the request processor. Saving a few cpu cycles per request doesn't sound like much, but, when the thundering herd comes in, sometimes even saving a few cpu cycles here and there can allow your machine to perform a little better.
I have a P3/800 doing 1.3 million pageviews a day at 12% cpu utilization. A client has a P2.4 doing 300k (doing the same effective task) and averages 40% cpu utilization.
Personally, I like the optimizations.
