[jessep]

For me, and I think most people who get excited about it, performance isn't what attracts me to React. It is the semantics (is that even the right word?). The nice way it lets me think about things.

It looks to me like htmlbars is handlebars emitting DOM rather than string. In that case, I think it will be missing the benefits of React. Again, though, I obviously don't understand Ember well.