Slow playback

>>but the speed is still slower than performing the steps manually.
Maybe you mean it is slower than using selenium itself? SAFS/SE+ is a framework, there are many layers on top of the testing tool (here it is the selenium), it is normal that it is slower than the testing tool itself. For the exact time spent on each step, it also depends on the machine performance, with a more powerful CPU and more Memory, you could get a better performance.
If you really mean it is slower than the manual testing, yes it will be. The testing tool also needs time to search the web-element and perform action.

>>One thing to note, it appears that in the console, when playing a test, SAFS is running a full process container scan on each window, getting all the properties available before completing the actions. Selenium itself doesn't do this, is that normal and is there a way to turn it off?
I believe that it is normal, some selenium's API is not so reliable, like "click", and we will use the Java Robot to do the work instead, so we need the window's information especially the location and size. But maybe we could provide user a way to use the first window's information to get a better performance.