I suspect they are playing a semantics game. Note the "inherently" in the statement.
Yes, with v-sync disabled, the screen refreshes as much as it can whether it'a a full or partial (tearing) update.
But enabling v-sync does not cut your framerate in half - the game simply refreshes the entire screen as often as it can.
If you have a slower computer, v-sync probably does make the overall experience more smooth, albeit with a sh*t ton of tearing. However, I would gladly take a v-sync experience equivalent to 40hz, 50hz or 58hz instead of capping the game's framerate to 30 FPS.
Now, as for it being a performance cheat for the game that was designed explicitly for 60hz realtime auto-configuration, that's a different matter.
Herp derp herpa derp.Shrugging; off to play the
Ico and
Shadow of Colossus collection,
Ray
Everything is awesome!!!
http://www.kindafunny.com/I love you, mom.