I guess it depends on what you want to do with your AK, but I think of an AK as a heavy duty, hard use carbine.
I like the Arsenal SLR-101S, but some people don't like the weight of a milled receiver. For people who are weight sensitive, the stamped receiver SLR-107F and SLR-107FR weigh a bit less than the milled receiver SLR-101S. I just prefer the milled receiver. There's nothing wrong with either.
My previous experience with AK's was with stamped receiver NORINCO and milled receiver Polytech AK's, so the thin 1MM receivers of the stamped Arsenals that my friends had felt kinda funny when fired in comparison to the 1.6MM receiver NORINCO that I had.
I purchased my SLR-101S back when the local gun shops actually charged more for the stamped receiver guns than the milled receiver guns.
I already had a stock of Chinese steel AK magazines, so the milled receiver Arsenal was a nice addition to the AK collection.
I see no tangible benefit to a cheap carbine, apart from being cheap, so I parted with the money for a quality AK. That said, todays prices are just insane and I see no reason to pay the asking price that people are charging on GunBroker and GunsAmerica. No AK in the world is worth 2K. I had second and even third thoughts about the 1K I spent on the SLR-101S.
I'm happy with the SLR-101S and I'd never willingly part with it, but the current rash of price gouging for semi-automatic rifles and carbines is completely over the top.
If you never needed one until now, I'd wait for a return to sanity. The Obama regime is not going to pass any legislation banning semi-automatic rifles and the Democrats know it. The only support the gun grabbers have is from those in the Democrat Party who have always been gun grabbers. In short, the legislation to ban semi-automatic firearms and magazines is going nowhere.