@rebel_luddite You also remove code for features you dont need. ie. I can remove translation support since I only use english. You can completely disable features you dont like. For example, I hate dbus and I just disable it globally for all packages in my make.conf.

Also, you get to choose everything. So if you have a very particular setup you want, it's always possible with gentoo.

I use binary distros on weaker hardware but always miss my gentoo setup