Combining the replies from zamadatix, jablan, 323, and jpe90, it seems to me like the UI framework is the culprit and could be (should be?) improved. If using

Combining the replies from zamadatix, jablan, 323, and jpe90, it seems to me like the UI framework is the culprit and could be (should be?) improved. If using the API's correctly, the compositor can be limited to only updating a small part of the screen. If really only switching the cursor between on and off, that'll happen roughly once per second. And lastly, the whole thing can be skipped completely if the cursor happens to be invisible, for example if the editor is minimized or (partially or fully) obscured by other windows.