Direct to X can be much faster, as there is no middle man. And can have better keyboard (and mouse) support which in terminals is pretty poor. This is why vi(m)

Direct to X can be much faster, as there is no middle man. And can have better keyboard (and mouse) support which in terminals is pretty poor. This is why vi(m) is best for terminals, because it's keyboard shortcuts are adapted for that (except typical 1 second delay on escape key).