Buy a bike with a well known air fork, forget about the groupset SRAM vs Shimano. The fork is what set those bikes apart ito weight etc...
I will look for a entry level bike that is kitted with a SR Suntour Air you can service the Suntour fork, look for a bike with a SR Suntour Raidon fork at least, not the AliExpress forks on some of the bikes mentioned above.
