Its good to know that, you are interested in android development. You are right about the android emulator. Its a bit slow. It would be advisable to upgrade you system RAM, if you want to continue use the emulator; though I personally use my device(mobile Samsung Galaxy R) for development purpose.(Its way better than using the emulator). In order to do so, you need to activate the USB debugging option of your phone. This would probably be helpful!
As for your second question. I would recommend you to make a Separate Workspace; so that you don't mix stuffs up.
Regards -Sathya