It would force you to come up with an actual sorting system, instead of just making more 16k/64k drives.
And AE does way more than storage and crafting. It also does instant item transport and it's an easy way to supply the machines with materials and pull the products back out. Just looking at ore processing: In the past it was a system system of macerators and furnaces linked to each other, with relays to handle buffering, filters to get the materials to the machines etc. Now the ore processing "setup" is a single macerator (or grinder) and a furnace, both with an Import and Export bus.
(And nope, I don't think MC is too easy, neither would I want to play again without AE.
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