PSA: budget options vs the alternatives [v2]

I want to write something more comprehensive about this later but starting with a quick post to gather thoughts. Posting this here because the relevant subreddit has gotten too noisy lately.

The trade-offs here are not obvious to me and I keep flip-flopping. For context, I am working with a pretty modest budget so high-end suggestions probably will not land. Quick context: I am relatively new to this and trying to find my footing.