Spaces/ multi-desktop animation slower in ML?

there could be a number of things but I do not notice a slowness with my late 08 MBP with the Nvidia 9600 chipset running.

is spotlight indexing?

I second this. In fact, I have been trying to find a possible resolution for this 'issue' ever since the first beta releases, but so far to no avail.

I will also stress that it is extremely annoying for a compulsive multitasker such as myself.

It definitely is slower. However, I've noticed two things that partially mitigate the effect. Cmd-tab switching animates quickly, and it turns out that the speed of your swipe on the trackpad affects the animation speed. If you swipe it very quickly it animates quicker.

This is true atleast on my mid 2009 MBP 13"

It's not satisfactory though. I would prefer not to have to swipe so fast. It's not comfortable.

I'm seeing this too on my 2011 iMac. The animation is both slower AND jerky in my case. At the end of the swipe there's a little "stutter". Also I see those two messages appear in Console with every single swipe (there are several lines of both messages whenever I swipe to another desktop):

31.07.12 14:30:00,619 Dock[202]: find_shared_window: WID 879

31.07.12 14:30:00,619 Dock[202]: CGSGetWindowTags: Invalid window 0x36f

As ScottStack has mentioned, with cmd-tab the animation is super-fast - and there's no message in console.

Weird. I have to admit it is a little annoying as I swipe between desktops a lot.... but I'm sure it'll get fixed eventually.

i have the same. the jerlyness is really annoying. it makes the UI feel so unpolished.

I'm experiencing the same thing. I think it seems to be a standard Mountain Lion thing. Hopefully they fix it.

It's particularly annoying if you use keyboard shortcuts. For example, I could be running Mail in desktop 1 and Safari in desktop 2. If I switch from 1 to 2 and then hit command+N to open a new Safari window, I can end up opening a new email window instead because it takes ages to "land" on the new desktop and its application(s).

Interestingly, if I do the desktop switching using a trackpad gesture and do the gesture quickly or hard, then it switches much faster. Not really a solution since it isn't very comfortable to do it that way, but hey, it's something.

If you flick your fingers really fast, the animation goes faster. But it's still really annoying.

This is slowing me down tremendously. I've resorted to installing TotalSpaces but this is far from ideal, especially at work–where I have a Cinema Display attached to my 17" MacBook Pro.

But I move around a lot faster now.

Using the above workarounds–fast swiping, cmd+tab, ctrl+number keys–is not an option for me. Fast swiping is hit or miss, number keys don't go to full screen apps, and worst of all: every time I add/remove a desktop I would have to go back to keyboard shortcuts preferences. I'm a heavy ctrl+arrow keys user.

The way I see it, the only thing wrong is the speed/easing of the animation when swiping and using ctrl+arrow keys. A fix would be great, fingers crossed for 10.8.1 🙂

I've noticed that it's worst when switching specifically to desktop 1. When switching to other desktops, it's just as slow, but as soon as the gesture is made, my Mac recognizes that I'm now on a new application and I can do a keyboard shortcut for that application even before it finishes "landing" on the new desktop. However, in switching to desktop 1, it stays on the desktop 2 application right up until it finishes "landing" on desktop 1, which means I have to wait for that before, for example, hitting cmd+N to open a new window in whatever application is in desktop 1.

I have the latest high end MBP with Retina 16 GB etc. When the machine first starts everything is very fast. However, later, almost always after a transition of suspending at work by pulling the cables and resuming at home by opening the lid the spaces switching slows down very much. The only way to recover is to logout/login ore reboot. At work I connect the machine to a display, at home I use it as a notebook... Puzzled... Definetely something I had not noticed with my MB and Snow Leopard before I switched to the new MBP. I was using the same monitor at work and the same routine.

Looks like update 10.8.2 fixed it - at least back to how it was in Lion, i.e. a little faster.

Yes it is definitely quicker in 10.8.2. Awesome!