Despite VSCode being an Electron app, I've never had any performance issues with it - really, it's a great example of how Electron can be done right.
On collaboration, I'm not sure what they might add that isn't already covered by GitHub/GitLab/AzDo etc. Again being honest, "collaboration" sounds like a weak Open Source pitch to VCs. I'd be interested in some details though, incase there is something truly novel here.
I do. I don't have a powerful laptop though. Whenever I open a new project I hear the cpu fan and cpu usage close to 100%, (TypeScript and ESlint are also a bit heavy and switching the app may not help with that). It's totally bearable though and as the years go by it will be less of an issue when everyone has a faster machine though.
The biggest performance improvement would probably be RAM usage. You don't notice laptop specs get more RAM. The usual options are still 8GB or 16GB. Until 32GB / 64GB is the new default, having a non-electron app will always be an improvement.
Personally I don't think it matters that much in the end, whether it is CPU usage or RAM, but if the editor was just as capable but faster, I'd switch. Code will never be rewritten from scratch and it will always be tied to Electron, starting a new text editor built with faster technologies could give a long-term edge the existing competitors would not be able to use.
I think that's a worthy goal. I find it really bad that in this age of super-mega CPUs apps still feel not much faster than say 20 years ago. The reason I think is because like cities apps are built on top of other apps, like VSCode on top of Electron.
Secondly when you re-create from scratch you can keep the best features and drop the ones we've learned are not so useful.
Eg: Speed? Different UI layout? Fundamentally different design/UX philosophy?