Here’s a few more suggestions from Autodesk for dealing with plodding hatch performance in AutoCAD 2011.
You may notice that your cursor freezes for several seconds when you select or de-select a complex or dense hatch pattern. This problem is attributed to the hatch preview capabilities of the ribbon. The workaround is to switch to the AutoCAD Classic workspace, which does not use the ribbon. Another suggestion is to simplify the hatch pattern.
Gradient hatches can cause noticeable delays when you zoom or pan. Try turning off the grid to improve performance.

In AutoCAD 2010 and up, you can use the Layerstatesave undocumented command to quickly save a new layer state or replace and existing one. When you type in Layerstatesave at the command line, you are prompted to enter a layer state name and description. It saves the current layer configuration (all properties) under the name you specify. If you specify an existing layer state name, AutoCAD will ask if you want to replace it.
In earlier releases, this capability is available through the Layer Walk tool (Format menu / Layer Tools / Layer Walk, or Laywalk at the command line). Right-click in the LayerWalk dialog box and select Create Layer State from the shortcut menu.

Caption: Right-click to access Save Layer State in Layer Walk.

The New Layer State to Save dialog box will display. Enter a name for a new layer state, or select the pull-down arrow to see existing layer state names. If you select an existing layer state, it will be updated with the current layer configuration. Add an optional description, if you wish.

Use the Qselect command, conveniently located in the upper right corner of the Properties palette, to select specified objects in your drawing. You can also type Qselect at the command line.

Caption: Qselect button is at top right of Properties palette.

You can use Qselect to find objects in the entire drawing or in the current selection set. The current selection set option is available only when a selection set has been specified.

Caption: Quick Select will search only the selection set for objects meeting the criteria specified.
Press the Select Objects button if you need to create a selection set while you’re in the command. The Select Objects button is available only when you select Include In New Selection Set and clear Append to Current Selection Set. Whenever Append to Current Selection Set is selected, the filtering criteria is applied to the entire drawing.

Caption: Quick Select dialog box with available object types shown.

Look under Object Type to view available object types. If you are applying the search criteria to the entire drawing, the Object Type list includes all object types, including custom. If not, you’ll see only the object types of the selected objects.

Properties lists all for the selected object type. Once you select a property, you may see additional options to choose from in the Operator and Value windows.

Caption: Properties available for Mtext objects.

Operator specifies the filter range, and options here will vary depending on what property you selected. You will see Equals and Not Equal To. Most properties also have Greater Than and Less Than options. *Wildcard Match is available only for editable text fields. Use the Select All option to ignore all properties filters.

Value specifies the property value for the filter. If there are known values available, they will appear in the pull-down list. Otherwise, enter a value.

Caption: Values appear for certain properties. Here you can select from all named block references in the drawing.

How to Apply indicates whether the new selection set should include or exclude objects that match your search criteria. Select Include in New Selection Set to create a new selection set composed only of objects that match the filtering criteria. Select Exclude from New Selection Set to create a new selection set composed only of objects that do not match the filtering criteria.

Once you’ve set up your search, select OK to proceed.

The Express Tool Torient rotates mtext, text, and attribute definition objects so that they are as close as possible to horizontal and right reading. To start Torient, select Rotate Text from the Express Tools Text menu, or type Torient at the command line. You will be prompted to select objects. Then AutoCAD asks for a New absolute rotation.

Caption: Polar array of text strings as created by AutoCAD.

When you select the Most Readable option, Torient rotates text objects around their middle point in 180-degree increments, but does not change location. Upside-down text becomes right side up, for example, and left-reading text becomes right reading.

Caption: Results of running Torient on the text using Most Readable option.

You can also specify an absolute rotation angle that is applied to all selected text objects.

Caption: Results of running Torient on the text using a new absolute rotation of 0 (zero). Looks kind of like an apple, doesn’t it?