Originally Posted by
Canker
A frame with boost spacing and a tapered headtube
Yes focus on the standards so you know you can upgrade in the future. Buy used, it will save you $$.
My story is I bought a 2011 Giant Talon for $550, it retailed for $1100. I bought it back in 2013ish so it was maybe a year and a half old. It featured a standard suntour coil spring fork, but with then modern 15mm thru axle and hydro brakes. 3x9 sram x5 drivetrain. The tricky part was it had a straight headtube but I lucked out and found an air fork with a straight steerer. The airfork was a nice addition but honestly an expensive set of tires was more noticable.
Anyway I wouldn't care about the fork manufacturer or drivetrain type but I would care about hydro brakes, tubeless ready rims, modern geometry (slack front) and standards like tapered headtube, boost spacing. Save money so you can buy really nice tubeless tires.