Sorry for poking in on this thread and going slightly off topic, but I'm researching Render times and it seems like its appropriate.
Is the A:M hair creating actual geometry at render time? I was under the impression that it was a simulated effect.
I am curious what rendering times are like now. And if they have been improved. It was one reason I left A:M for other software, the rendering times were unreasonable for a fully AA frame with reflection/refraction enabled. As an example.