A few X-E1 questions from a former x100 owner

I owned an x100 for about 7 months, which is an eternity for someone with as much severe G.A.S. as myself.    I really did love the camera, but eventually sold it off for a few reasons.

I'm finding more and more that I really do miss that little camera (with all its wonderful controls), so I've been contemplating coming back into the Fujifilm fold.  The X-E1 has grabbed my attention, mainly due to the availability of the 18-55mm lens (it's really the best option for a fast-ish zoom on a mirrorless system.  The Panny 12-35 is $500 more, bigger, and doesn't give any better subject isolation on the long end).  I plan to eventually get the 35mm when the budget allows.

I just have two questions about the X-E1, and how it compares to the x100:

1)  How is AF performance compared to the x100 with all firmware updates?  I know neither is a speed demon.  The AF speed wasn't a big deal to me with the x100, but I was annoyed by it's tendency to mis-focus at shorter distances, and sometimes not lock at all.  Is the XE-1 with the 18-55 any better in this regard?  Is the focus any faster than the x100?

2)  One of my biggest pet peeves with the x100 was the way the controls locked up while the RAW files were being emptied from the buffer.  It was annoying to take a photo, realize I forgot to turn the ND filter off, and then have to wait (for what sometimes felt like an eternity) for the RAW buffer to finish writing.  Does the X-E1 remain responsive while the RAW buffer empties?

Thanks a bunch in advance.  This looks like a very helpful and friendly forum.