Is there any reason to prefer static_cast<>
over C style casting? Are they equivalent? Is there any sort of speed difference?
C++ style casts are checked by the compiler. C style casts aren't and can fail at runtime.
Also, C++ style casts can be searched for easily, whereas it's really hard to search for C style casts.
Another big benefit is that the 4 different C++ style casts express the intent of the programmer more clearly.
When writing C++ I'd pretty much always use the C++ ones over the the C style.