Why does the Messages.app alert me to new messages quicker than my actual iPhone? The notification center clearly posts its alerts visible on my screen faster than my iPhone alerts me. 

Does the path of my incoming texts change when I have the Messages.app configured to sync with my phone or does the Messages.app just alert faster, or is something else going on?
As you are active on your compy, it gives you first opportunity to answer from there. Only if you don't bring Messages to the front does it then ping the phone.

Personally, I like it - I can type a heck of a lot faster with 8 fingers than 2 thumbs ;)

&amp; now it can do SMS too, fabulous.

BTW, if you don't like it, I've never seen any option to change that behaviour. It may auto-switch if you start answering on the phone instead, but I haven't specifically checked for if it does that.