Okay everyone, here's the results of my V8 Benchmark tests of IE8, Chrome and Firefox 3. For this test, bigger is better (that's what SHE said, anyhoooo).
Internet Explorer 8 Beta - Score 28
Firefox 3 - Score 101
Google Chrome - Score 817
Clearly, Chrome wins, at least in these benchmarks.
Why does the javascript benchmark matter? Well, it makes a difference in websites that use a lot of javascript. Most webmail clients do, as do most web IM systems like
Meebo, and many forum sites (like here at BigBlueBall). So you should see a noticeable improvement on most of those sites, even beyond the basic speed enhancements of Chrome.