For sure mate the deformation is far better, the t-pose is fine but when you think about it nobody really walks around with their arms up. This has always bothered me in character setup. The T-pose make the bone placement easier but not for weighting.

But having worked on Headcases and built all my stuff at 45degrees the guys doing the rigs were sorting them in no time and some of them had no rigging experience whatsoever. So it goes to show what can be achieved in a small space of time

Jay