My current configuration is an Intel Core i5 with Intel Haswell 5100 graphics and 4 GB of RAM. The computer is a Macbook pro retina model which I bought only recently.

My previous configuration was a system with an Intel Core i5, 4 GB of RAM and AMD RADEONHD 5470M with catalyst drivers installed. When I used this configuration during versions 3.0, 3.2, 3.4 and 3.6 animation was BUTTERY smooth. Gnome-shell, including opening the overview, the workspace sidebar, everything was as smooth as it could be. This was my experience on a variety of configurations and both on open-source and proprietary drivers.


However, since precisely version 3.8, when something changed with how the animations are done, the animations, particularly opening the overview and the workspace sidebar, became jittery and laggy. So it is persistent on 3.8, 3.10 and 3.12.

I have since enabled glamour mode on my current configuration and while the overview animation became smooth the workspace sidebar opening i.e. sliding is still jittery.

I hope something some optimization is done about this, since it is one of the crucial aspects of shell that makes or brakes the experience.