i think the real competition here is vim.
vscode is a user-friendly editor that you just start using as a no brainer. You unlikely to learn more as you go (maybe a couple of shortcuts). So you get what you see pretty much
vscode is like a lego set. Emacs is more like a piece of marble. Harder to work with but has so much more potential.
and btw, vscode is the minimalist here
offtopic, what data do you store? Photos? I was always curious about people who use a lot of storage