Apps Development focused computer

[André Silva]

Hi there!

(This is my first post here, so sorry in advance if I missed any rules or if its in the wrong place.)

I have recently started developing for Android and I am now looking to build a computer solely for this purpose. I was looking to build something that would keep me set up for a few years, so budget isn't a main concern (I don't want something too expensive, but I have some money to invest). The reason why I'm posting is because I'm not quite sure what components I should be more concerned about / what is more important, so if you fine gents could point me in the right direction, I would be most grateful.

Cheers!

 

[scary alien]

Welcome to our AndroidForums, @André Silva .

You've posted in the right spot! (thank you!).

I'm guessing @LV426 might have some better feedback for you than I, but I dabble a bit in app development (very informally, so don't ask me hard questions ), but I had my son build me a small desktop computer several years back that still seems to do the job quite well (i.e., Eclipse performance seems fine to me). I'm guessing that most of today's processors / CPU combos will be nicely powered, so probably no worries on that front.

For me, the big, nice thing is being able to have two monitors which really makes managing, organizing, researching things much easier with space for the various windows and browser tabs I might have launched.

Other than that, I can't speak to current hardware components, but hopefully others can.

Cheers!

 

[Deleted User]

For me RAM is critical. Modern IDEs tend to chew up a lot of memory. Add a web browser to that and the system is already consuming a fair amount. I would say 8GB minimum, and probably double that if you're using Windows 10.
My core i5 laptop performs well, but I'm getting an upgrade to an i7 soon.
Also consider replacing your HDD with an SSD, to speed up disk access. Your boot up times will also be amazingly fast.
And as Scary Alien mentioned, leave some budget for 2 monitors, but they are relatively cheap these days. It's nice to have the IDE open on one monitor, and the emulator (if using it), or web browser visible on the other monitor.

 

[André Silva]

Thanks for the answers!

I was thinking focusing on RAM and cpu would be ideal. Grabbing an SSD seems like a good option too. I'm guessing graphics board isn't that much of a factor, so I'm thinking of getting something serviceable and go for the 2 monitors, it really is a struggle trying to work on my laptop screen :/

Since it wont be much of a strain on my budget, would you say its a good idea to spend whatever I got left into acquiring some android devices so I could test my apps irl? I'm talking of something like a cheap tablet + phone, or would you say the emulator does the job well enough? I havn't fiddled with it that much, but android studio does seem to have a lot of devices to emulate.

Thanks once again!

 

[Deleted User]

You're right, graphics card is less important. The graphics chip in my laptop is pretty ordinary, but does the job.
Having devices to test on is a good idea. The emulator does a fine job, and you can configure it with a fair selection of devices, but I find it can be slow to start, and having a real device connected makes things much faster. No problem at all developing/debugging with a real device, it works very well.

 

[André Silva]

Well, I think I know what to get then. Thanks for all the help! Cheers!

 

[scary alien]

The emulator does a fine job, and you can configure it with a fair selection of devices, but I find it can be slow to start, and having a real device connected makes things much faster. No problem at all developing/debugging with a real device, it works very well.

Ugh! I hate using an/the emulator...mostly 'cause way back when (2010) it was really, really, sloooooow.

I'm sure it's much better now, but I prefer to hook-up my actually test devices (much, much faster ).

Cheers!

 

[Deleted User]

Ugh! I hate using an/the emulator...mostly 'cause way back when (2010) it was really, really, sloooooow.

I'm sure it's much better now, but I prefer to hook-up my actually test devices (much, much faster ).

Cheers!

Yeah I know what you mean, it takes an age to start up. But you can install HAXM hardware accelerator to speed it up. I never bothered with it, as I do all my testing with a real device, but it's an option for the OP.