Some older versions of AE (CC 2014 was the last one that did it) had a feature called multiprocessing that launched several instances of AE in the background in order to use multiple cores in a system. It worked really well in many cases. There are some projects where it made a HUGE difference on multi-core machines. But, it was fairly buggy and, in many cases, just flat out wouldn't work.
So, the renderer in the new versions doesn't use multiple cores very well, BUT, the software is actually multithreaded now whereas the old versions weren't. The UI and renderer run on separate threads since CC 2015 (but works much better now in the latest few releases). This makes AE much snappier to work with and lays the groundwork for the future improvements that Rick alluded to.
I also should mention that the C4D renderer that comes in the very latest release is actually a fully multithreaded renderer (because it is the C4D renderer under the hood). Also, the new versions have GPU acceleration of several effects.
Keep in mind that a CC subscription includes all versions of the software from CS6 through to the most recent release. That means, you can work in the latest release for the snappier interaction that it has and then render in CC 2014 if your project would benefit from it. But, again, the older versions don't have GPU-accelerated native effects and some expressions or effects are incompatible with multiprocessing so, in lots of cases, the latest version is still faster.
To be perfectly frank, you don't need dual processors or quad processors if you're just doing work with AE in its current form. Higher clock speed is much more important. In the future that could change. And, if you're planning to use Cinema 4D, you would definitely benefit from as many cores as you can get. Actually, multiply the clock speed by the number of cores and THAT'S the number you want to be as high as possible. (Unless, of course, you're planning to use a GPU renderer like Cycles 4d or Octane).
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