I'm getting the same results on my windows laptop. Both test sites run pretty good on IE8 with yours nosing out mine most of the time. When viewing on FireFox, my test site is very fast, maybe nosing out yours.
Dunno'. . .maybe it has something to do with virus protection security too . . .
Anyway. . .I'm very pleased with ZenPhoto, even running it on IIS and look forward to trying its many features.