I personally think that Gregtech is a great mod, with lots of overpowered machines that generate lots of eu and look awesome. but for the start game items, like the drill, you shouldn't need to get a coke oven (from another mod) and a blast furnace (from another mod). I mean, if you didn't have railcraft installed, you'd either be screwed if you weren't good with computers, or just deal without drills, chainsaws, and hoes. But seriously, people, who wants a rechargeable hoe? It's not like you'll use it a lot.
I personally think that the solar panel recipes are really fun! Watching a industrial centrifuge spin redstone for an hour for silicon is boring, but not when you have to also get a carbon plate from tons of coal and some maceration and compression, a generator, and find some sand in your undoubtedly underground base!
Most of the advanced recipes are fun, but some are just way out of this world. Gregtech is trying to make endgame items out of easy to get ones, but i think it tried too much i some cases.