[Nexus 7 General] DanielEGVi:
I've tried these launchers:

- Stock

- Trebuchet

- Nova Launcher (lastest beta)

- Apex Launcher

- Holo Launcher HD

on Paranoid Android 2.13 (based on CM10.0.0) with Trinity kernel on stock UI and CM10 surfaceflinger fix applied and decided to see which launcher(s) was/were the smoothest.

Here's my breakdown:

- Stock

This is arguably the smoothest launcher running on the nexus, animations are buttery smooth and has absolutely null delay when loading app drawer, no matter if you just opened it the second after you closed GTA3. The downside is that the customizability on this one is the Android launcher standard, so no custom icons, no rotation, etc. No redraws, no anything. It is lagless (if you have a healthy device).

- Trebuchet

This one lacks smoothness, and even if you open the weather application to check the forecast and go back to the drawer, it will force you to wait a while while (see what I did there?) loading the drawer.

- Nova Launcher (lastest beta - beta7 and beta8)

This may be the most feature-rich launcher, but while it is smooth with page transitions and doesn't redraw the screen while rotating, the transition to the app drawer still stutters (just a little bit, but still not 60fps), and not even the UI Lock option in the labs section can fix this.

- Apex Launcher (lastest beta)

This launcher is just as feature-rich as Nova, but it won't recognize the Nexus 7 workspace so you have to set it up yourself to make it look right. Transition to app drawer is similar to that of Nova's, and it redraws the screen when rotating, which is a huge bummer for some users.

- Holo Launcher HD

This is the only launcher I've seen that is as smooth as stock. Try it out: install it, and swipe the screen. You'll feel like you are actually moving the pixels with your fingers, even if it is full of widgets. Now open the app drawer, and see how Project Butter was meant to work. If you install Nova or Apex after doing this, you'll notice it's just not the same. Sometimes it will delay a bit while loading the app drawer but this can be fixed by checking the Keep in memory option. Only redraws stuff when rotating with at least one widget in a homescreen.

NOTES:

- Beta versions do not represent the final product, so keep an eye out for updates!

- Sometimes Apex nor Holo Launcher HD will not recognize the Nexus 7 workspace and must be configured manually.

- Every launcher redraws the app drawer when rotating (this usually takes ~3-6 seconds).

The easiest way to see how smooth is a launcher, do this:

- open the app drawer, then

- press the home button

Repeat this as fast as you can and you may see if it stutters or delays the opening of the drawer (Nexus 7's hardware was not meant for stuttering, so you got to be mercy-less).

So far:

- Stock is super-smooth, portrays Project Butter, but not much customizability.

- Holo Launcher HD is as smooth as Stock, but comes with more customizability.

- Nova and Apex's lastest beta versions are stuffed with lots of nice features, they are smooth but not as Stuck or Holo Launcher HD.

- Not to offend the CyanogenMod team, but Trebuchet is a little suckish for the Nexus 7, it doesn't really show off what it can do.

Also there are SPB Shell and TSF Shell, both are one of a kind launchers with swift performance in mind. I haven't really tried them out but I've heard they are extremely smooth!

So tell me, what do you think about those launchers? Which one do you primarily use? I use Nova Launcher.