I am not comparing performance of a terminal window - Cmd and PowerShell both run connected to the same terminal app - Windows Console (conhost.exe) as discussed ad nauseum in the posts that are the subject of this thread.

But you're comparing a 30+ year old command-line shell that was built in 1989 to primarily provide compatibility with MS-DOS, with a modern object-based shell that runs atop the .NET CLR and provides VASTLY more power and capability than the MUCH older, simpler, shell that it supersedes.

It's like comparing startup perf of Notepad and VSCode … and saying that you won't use VSCode until it starts up as quickly as Notepad, even if VSCode saves you HOURS more per day/week than using Notepad would.