for some versions of terminal the font rendering has become very slow and choppy esp. when the window is a bit larger and much text is printed, for example while compiling apps.

when i enable the xfwm4 compositor, it's fast again.
vte version is 0.14.1, terminal and xfwm4 are latest svn.
i don't use a transparent background but a solid black. the used font is monospace.