A question about Syntax highlighting, different modes.

[Jim Zhang]

Hi there,

I am a rookie here.
I am using Emacs for Mac to edit some latex files. And when I click  
"syntax highlight" from the menu, or set "M_x font_lock_mode". Emacs  
gives me a really fancy kind of highlighting scheme.
I believe it's some embedded latex mode or something.

For example, if you input "x^y", the y will be put in a smaller font  
and put on the top of x, which is nice. But it slows down the text  
input speed.
I have to wait a while for my words to show up!

Another annoying thing. I don't know why? some time if I finish a $ 
\begin{align}$ environment, I can not input "$" sign. It shows in the  
minibuffer: "math mode because of align, Use C_q $ to force a dollar  
sign"! Heck, what's wrong with it???

I tried "M_x text-mode", it 's way faster. I just really don't need  
all those fancy gadgets. What i need is a very very simple syntax  
hightlighting scheme that runs functionally for editing tex file.  
Like what i have used before in Unix. Nothing fancy that will eat up  
my memory, or anything that slows down the main purpose: writing!

Does anyone have an idea how to handle this? How can I set up my  
syntax highlighting, without those fancy packages involved?

many many thanks,

earnest,
Jim