Originally Posted by Kapusta

On a hard tail, the biggest things I would priorities are getting a decent fork, tubeless compatible wheels, and a dropper post.

Not too picky about brakes and drive-train. If the brakes stop me and the drivetrain shifts when I push/pull/twist the shifter, I'm happy, and in reality anything out there in that price range will do those things fine, IMO. 1x is nice, but not as big a priority as the fork, wheels, and post.