Other browsers may not do the checkerboard effect, but they still take their sweet time loading pages at times.
I use either Icab or Perfect Browser and they load pages noticeably slower then my one netbook does at times (I have A/B ed them on the same page a few times to compare)
I still prefer the ipad2 over the netbook for casual browsing however (I keep my android phone close by when I need it for flash content)