What is it in specific that you consider "sluggish"? My machine is similarly speced 17" 1GHz iMac w/ 756MB.
No windows don't resize fluidly like they do on my Athlon XP 2000+ but then Windows is cheating with it's redraws. Display PDF does come at a price, but I think the advantages do outweigh this minor negative.
As far a general usage I wait about the same amount for each when launching a new app. In use I really can't tell the difference.