Application loading speed

[Diginut]

Hi,

I have a BB Storm and yes, even with all of it's issues, does open apps fairly quickly (under 1/2 second). I notice that the Pre seems to take over a second or two as it goes back to the home screen, loads the app, then switches to it.

As I like the speed of accessing the apps, is it common practice to preload the apps and just let them run in the background? Are the background apps eating up processor and memory (and battery) or do they have a fairly minimal footprint?

Thanks.