Help choosing a mixer

Hi bakers, thank you so much for all the mouth-watering treats that you all make! I am not much of a baker but I always enjoy all the posts that I see here.

I am currently looking for a stand mixer to purchase for my partner's birthday in July. He enjoys baking, mostly cakes and brownies, but really hoping to be able to start doing things like cookies, breads, and biscuits as well.

I have been reading up on what one is supposed to look for in a mixer, and what people generally like to use, and it seems KitchenAid is pretty good. My budget is under $500, and one recently that was on sale and has pretty good reviews in general. However, reading through them, it seems there is a wide range between people saying "this thing sucks it burned out my first time making bread" to "this is the best thing I've ever bought in my life", leading me to be a little confused.

My general questions are:

• 1. Are tilt-head mixers better or lift-away mixers better? I thought the lift ones were more sturdy but there are also many people who find them annoying to use.
• 2. How necessary is a pour shield? The one that I saw which is on sale doesn't come with one, and the current within budget one that has a shield (the Artisan series) has very mixed reviews.
• 3. Is this one a good option/good deal (345.50 USD, 449.99 CAD), or should I skip this one and choose a different one instead? There is also the Classic option (230.33 USD, 299.99 CAD) which is much cheaper but it doesn't have a handle and I don't know how it would handle thicker doughs.

Thank you very much for your responses!