Worst unpopular opinions — am I overthinking this? [v4]

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. For context, I am working with a pretty modest budget so high-end suggestions probably will not land.

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, mods please remove if it is not. The trade-offs here are not obvious to me and I keep flip-flopping. The trade-offs here are not obvious to me and I keep flip-flopping.

Been thinking about this for a while and curious what the community thinks. I tried three different approaches and none of them felt quite right.