If it’s valuable to you? That depends on what your goals are, and what you are trying to achieve. : - )
I really prefer the Gmail experience to using email inside SuiteCRM. But when I need campaigns Gmail is no match for SuiteCRM. And for some people the “linking” to the records is essential to manage their CRM.
There is no “community edition” of SuiteCRM. There is only one, free, open-source, full-featured SuiteCRM.