Using strings seem to have the edge generally on my machine, even though the difference is small. This is interesting to me, because I was under the impression that hashes would always be faster if pre-hashed and used as a local variable.
Restarting...
Test hash took 0.055999994277954
Test strings took 0.047999978065491
Test prehash took 0.049599981307983
Restarting...
Test strings took 0.048699998855591
Test prehash took 0.050399994850159
Test hash took 0.058500003814697
Restarting...
Test strings took 0.049200057983398
Test hash took 0.057299971580505
Test prehash took 0.0507000207901
Restarting...
Test strings took 0.048000025749207
Test hash took 0.05620002746582
Test prehash took 0.048399972915649
Restarting...
Test hash took 0.056699991226196
Test strings took 0.04850001335144
Test prehash took 0.050099968910217
Restarting...
Test prehash took 0.049500060081482
Test strings took 0.047499918937683
Test hash took 0.055699992179871
Restarting...
Test hash took 0.057299995422363
Test strings took 0.048100018501282
Test prehash took 0.050599980354309
Restarting...
Test prehash took 0.049900007247925
Test hash took 0.056799936294556
Test strings took 0.048900079727173
Restarting...
Test prehash took 0.049399995803833
Test hash took 0.055900025367737
Test strings took 0.048100018501282
Restarting...
Test hash took 0.056400012969971
Test prehash took 0.049600028991699
Test strings took 0.047899961471558