The advantages are it costs less than wood. The disadvantage is it chips very easily.

Hate this stuff - our home is only months old with this type of trim (not our choice) it looks dirty already, chipped etc. Would definitely go with real wood. Costly yes, but in the end well worth it.

I second that , Gypsum is usually used as a close to the ceiling moulding/trim not where heavy traffic and cords can damage it .

And the wood looks rich as it is the real deal.

You can use an "Abuse Board" type of gypsum to do lower sections if you really want to use a gypsum product. The abuse board is a denser gypsum product that doesn't dent or damage as easily. You could also use a 1/2" MDF product instead of drywall on the bottom and then use a drywall compound to tie the gypsum into the MDF. This will give you a similar look. In my experience, the wood will out last any gypsum product used as or in place of a wood baseboard. As said earlier, the gypsum product will cost less but be a bigger headache as it degrades / chips or dents. The wood product will be slightly more, however it will out last anything else, and is much easier to maintain.