I think what is also important is "searching with your eyes" vs "searching with your fingers". If you have a lot of information to present, you can either have it hidden away or try to present as much of it as possible all at once.

In the first case the user has to search for it by clicking into submenus or scrolling in the later he can search by just moving his eyes.

I do think that searching with your eyes is often preferable. It is all around faster, especially if you realize you have been mistaken and need to search again.