Buy used. Best bang for the buck. Just check it out before taking it home. There are a lot of used equipment out there for sale right now.

Assuming your looking at portable planners I can't recommend a specific brand because I am old iron guy. Mine is 1950 Powermatic I restored. But if all you expect to do is softwoods I don't think that there is much difference in practical terms. The biggest thing I hear about is the rubber feed rollers wear out and they don't want to feed.

Here is mine just after I finished restoring it. Of course now it is covered with dust.