One reason to need a fast CPU and lots of RAM is building Android from the source (primarily within the Android modding/hacking community). I mostly point it ou

One reason to need a fast CPU and lots of RAM is building Android from the source (primarily within the Android modding/hacking community). I mostly point it out because it has a wider appeal than most other large projects that are built from the source by typical users regularly these days and also for its demanding build requirements. Rebuilding the entire source can be lengthy without a fairly new CPU, SSD and lots of RAM. Granted one does not have to rebuild the entire source most of the time, but rebuilding some parts like the framework base (the java userland area libraries), takes a while. Following specs came from Google[1] the other year when ICS was released: -6GB of download. -25GB disk space to do a single build. -80GB disk space to build all AOSP configs at the same time. -16GB RAM recommended, more preferred, anything less will measurably benefit from using an SSD. -5+ hours of CPU time for a single build, 25+ minutes of wall time, as measured on my workstation (dual-E5620 i.e. 2x quad-core 2.4GHz HT, with 24GB of RAM, no SSD). Lots of RAM allows you to switch the compile output over to a ramdrive (or if not, move it to a separate SSD if you have two). Moving the entire source to a ram drive or fast ssd also makes editing much faster (especially the initial load into an IDE like Intellij or Eclipse) or grepping through the codebase. Doing it on anything less becomes somewhat tedious from my experience. [1] https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups=#!topic/android-building/N1exifTpPfA https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups=#!topi...