The last time I went through lax it took me less than 15 minutes to get through security. My flight was leaving at like 9pm or so, but it was in mid December 2014. I got there maybe 7/7:30pm. Don't know if taking a red eye makes a difference, but that was my experience.

Last year I flew out of Meadows, mid December, and flew into a similarly sized and similarly marked up airport as Meadows that is closer to my end destination, with a round trip through the same airports on December 29th. I paid $525 for it and I booked in October. The previous year I had booked my flight through lax to Philadelphia and back much sooner and paid about $50 more, had flight cancellations and missed connections due to weather, as opposed to having no hiccups and it being cheaper the following year. Go figure.

So I say, weigh your options according to what annoys you the least to the most, do a lot of research on prices, and go with the best compromise. A lot of stress can be eliminated from traveling if you just resolve to show up stupid early, especially if you are traveling out of a particularly busy airport. Meadows is definitely a lot less hectic, and if hectic gets you anxious, and you are willing to make the compromise of $50/100 so you not only have to deal with less people, but don't have to show up quiiiiiite as early as 3 or 4 hours before your flight, I say go with it.

Some suggestions: If you can swing it, wherever you fly out of, take some kind of driving service (public or private) that will take you to your gate. I've gone as far as taking regional transit to Lancaster so I could take metro link to union station, and then get on shuttle bus that goes specifically to lax and will take you to your gate bc it cost me $15 less than the bus that takes you from Bakersfield to the airport. But I have a high tolerance for waiting, so I realize that method isn't for everyone. If you do take the metro link and you fly out of Burbank, they offer free shuttle service to the airport from the Burbank metro link station. They say book a pick up time in advance, but I didn't and waited like an hour for a ride.