I suppose to some extent it does - if you have poor hardware.

If you include the CD itself within the realm of hardware, then, yeah.

Personally, I'd rather be sure that I'm getting a correct rip the first time than try to go back and rerip when I discover that it's wrong somehow. Since ripping is a one-time time expenditure, I'm willing for it to take longer to assure that it's correct.

On the other hand, EAC does have an awful UI. But it does have the ability to encode WAVs at a later date. Perhaps not as good as AG's, but it's there.