in my experience the contact patch seemed no bigger.

the bonus of the time atac style is there is zero play between the cleat and the pedal. with spd's you'll notice a little play start to develop as the pedals/cleats wear down.

the big downside of the atacs IMHO is the soft brass cleats. they work awesome when new but become finicky way too soon for me. by about 6 months in i was pulling my foot out regularly because the cleats were so worn. with spd's i can get years out of a set of cleats but usually just change them when too much play develops. i have never worn a set down enough for them to pull out spontaneously. plus the time cleats cost like 30 bucks and are never on sale.

all this said i ride mtb in the same shoes i commute and ride road in (lots of almost daily action) so maybe all the dirty mtb action kills the soft cleats way faster? dunno but for brain-dead reliability i went back to shimano.

new or very good condition times do feel better than new shimanos there is no doubt.