Not really. I did switch to the black guy because I think the shaved-head look is kind of cool. Have had lots of load-time errors since then but I'm pretty sure that has been due to some blips in my connection speed. No problems with the meter as such (which have always been rare with me anyway).
PS. When I switched back to the white guy I had no load-time errors. Anecdotal? Coincidence?
PPS. Now it appears that a cache-cleaning was all it took to up the performance, so the guy with the shaved head will be back in action pronto.