I found it more stressful. The biggest place where delays are caused at an airport is at security, so when I arrive at an airport, this is the first thing I want to take care of, and cannot relax until I've passed through it.

To be told I cannot go through security until a few moments before the flight departs (because it is not even open, or the gate not even assigned) means that anything that does go wrong will cause me to miss my flight.

Not to mention the expense of having screening apparatus at every gate seems a little inefficient. It means everyone on the flight tries to cram through the one line at the same time, whereas if it were in advance, it could be spread out in time and over more lines.

Amsterdam Schiphol is like this, too, and yeah, it's great. I think for them it's because they're going for this combination airport/mall/mini-city vibe, and there are enough amenities that they want it to be attractive as a destination, even for people not flying, so they want to keep as much of the airport outside of security as possible.