As others have pointed out, Emacs has a GUI. But the fact that you didn't know this might suggest that the GUI part of Emacs isn't integrally linked to the killer features of Emacs.
Learning tools like Emacs is for many a matter of productivity. If you want productivity, you want to streamline your most commonly used actions. Streamlining things in an editor will probably mean to use keybindings, since you're using the keyboard to input text anyway. Then you have to memorize the keybindings (or: your fingers have to), and you have to practice using it to the point that it actually becomes more productive than whatever previous routine you had - you have to fight your old habits.
Building these habits is what takes time. The fact that Emacs has a GUI helps with feedback and discoverability, not that much with building habits. When you have finally built these habits, only then can you know if you are more productive. If you aren't you might have to unlearn a lot of your habits (for example by learning modal text editing).
Learning tools like Emacs is for many a matter of productivity. If you want productivity, you want to streamline your most commonly used actions. Streamlining things in an editor will probably mean to use keybindings, since you're using the keyboard to input text anyway. Then you have to memorize the keybindings (or: your fingers have to), and you have to practice using it to the point that it actually becomes more productive than whatever previous routine you had - you have to fight your old habits.
Building these habits is what takes time. The fact that Emacs has a GUI helps with feedback and discoverability, not that much with building habits. When you have finally built these habits, only then can you know if you are more productive. If you aren't you might have to unlearn a lot of your habits (for example by learning modal text editing).
- Written in my Emacs