I have several url related config options set:
browser.search.suggest.enabled false
keyword.enabled false
browser.urlbar.default.behavior 2 <
masking detailsedit: and also this
browser.urlbar.autocomplete.enabled false
Following up on this:
I've been able to significantly speed up my Firefox URL bar on first use by setting the following settings:
browser.urlbar.default.behavior 1
Browser.urlbar.search.chunkSize 25
Browser.urlbar.search.timeout 5
Browser.urlbar.maxRichResults 4
I'll probably fiddle with those settings more. Details of what all the options do are here:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries