Why late-night thoughts that changed my mind [v1]

Mostly thinking out loud — feel free to push back hard. Been thinking about this for a while and curious what the community thinks. The trade-offs here are not obvious to me and I keep flip-flopping.

Looking for honest feedback, not validation.

For context, I am working with a pretty modest budget so high-end suggestions probably will not land. Been thinking about this for a while and curious what the community thinks.