I just spent the past two days Googling this and trying to find an answer before I posted.
Here's the problem: I installed 13.10 64-bit fresh from a DVD and the various desktop animations in unity are slow and choppy. This includes the dashboard, the launcher tooltips, switching workspaces, switching apps etc.
The whole desktop interface appears to be slow. Graphical performance within apps is totally fine.
Here's the results of my unity support test:
$ /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Q35
OpenGL version string: 1.4 Mesa 9.2.1
Not software rendered: yes
Not blacklisted: yes
GLX fbconfig: yes
GLX texture from pixmap: yes
GL npot or rect textures: yes
GL vertex program: yes
GL fragment program: yes
GL vertex buffer object: yes
GL framebuffer object: yes
GL version is 1.4+: yes
Unity 3D supported: yes
Is there any more information I should check that might help me find a solution?