One thing I noticed is that several people have said that it only takes 30 minutes to brew AG. If the mash takes 30 minutes and you still need to sparge and lauter, how does that equal 30 minutes? Plus there is more cleanup. Granted, you can clean while waiting for the boil to start but you may have other things to focus on.
I brewed years ago and I feel I jumped to AG too early, i.e. I did not have certain fundamentals down before going AG. I recently came back and decided to focus on extract for several reasons. One of the reasons was already mentioned in terms of my past mistakes. Another reason is that I have a busy life, as do most other people. I work ( thank God! ), play music ( thank God ) and play poker ( then I pray to the poker gods ), so time is a premium. Another reason is space. I live in a NYC 1 bedroom apartment and I have 5 basses, 2 guitars, a keyboard among other things.
I have a long way to go as a brewer, but for now it is extract with specialty grains. I even get my specialty grains crushed at the LHBS.
Brew how you please.