The early x86 Macs (Core Solo, Core Duo CPU, etc) were pretty bad. I have one of the x86 Mac Minis from 2006 around somewhere.
ProllyInfamous
The Core2Duo were the first Intel Macs worth a hoot. IIRC, you could get this CPU in the white MacBook, along with an education discount and iPod rebate.
I rocked dual Xenons until early 2023's M2Pro mini (the energy savings are substantial, with minimal GPU performance degredation).