The answer that I got from the dev team is not really, but good CPU is most important. Also, a 2011mbp with 2.3ghz i5 is a little slow for dev work but it works.
I'm not 100% sure on this, but I would estimate 8 GB for RAM. 4 could work, but IDK.
@gtg also comment below regarding running a local instance of steemd vs. connecting to wss://node.steem.ws. This will make a big difference as well.