Android Studio Setup Wizard --> Android Virtual Device

Issue

TL;DR Should I include the "Android Virtual Device" component when setting up Android Studio? Any reason it's recommended yet unchecked by default?

Long version: I downloaded and installed Android Studio for Windows 64. I am now going through the initial setup wizard, and just chose the defaults so far (i.e. Install Type = standard, UI type = IntelliJ) but for SDK Components Setup I noticed the following: Android Virtual Device is unchecked by default, yet the description says it is Recommended. I plan to include all other (checked-by-default) components: Android SDK, Android SDK Platform, and Performance (Intel HAXM). So... should I include this component? / Any reason it's recommended yet unchecked by default? I haven't done Android development before, so if you can clarify what type of apps would use this component, that would help.

FYI here's the component description: "A preconfigured and optimized Android Virtual Device for app testing on the emulator. (Recommended)"

Screenshot of SDK Components Setup

And is this component redundant / related to the Performance (Intel HAXM) component? Description: "Enables a hardware-assisted virtualization engine (hypervisor) to speed up Android app emulation on your development computer. (Recommended)"

Solution

Android Virtual Device is an emulator that simulates Android devices on your computer, you can use this to run your app on virtual devices.

Should I include the "Android Virtual Device" component

Well, if you want to test your app on a device that you don't own you can test it on an emulator instead.

Any reason it's recommended yet unchecked by default?

If you want to use the emulator remember that it has additional requirements beyond the basic system requirements.

so the emulator option is not checked by default because when you download android studio from the official site you can see the basic requirements(without the emulator requirements) and this is what you get.

if you want to use the emulator later this is ok but you need to remember that it will require some extra system requirements.

From the documentation:

The Android Emulator has additional requirements beyond the basic system requirements for Android Studio:

• SDK Tools 26.1.1 or higher
  
• 64-bit processor
  
• Windows: CPU with UG (unrestricted guest) support
  
• HAXM 6.2.1 or later (HAXM 7.2.0 or later recommended)

Answered By - Tamir Abutbul