I totally understand wanting the simplicity of not messing with flush routines and the comparative quiet of a rotary pump. From a pure performance standpoint, there are a lot of options out there that might meet your needs. I don't think that a couple cups a week are going to stress most of the options.

Any of the E61-based options are going to take 30-45 minutes to come up to temperature and stabilize. If that's OK for you, then there are also options like the Bianca/Synchronika/Profiltec Pro or even a Mara X at a more modest price. Chris' Coffee also shows the Sorella. I don't know much about it past that Chris and his team have been behind a lot of the great choices and changes made in the Quick Mill models brought into North America and have been exceptional to work with over the years for both new machines as well as parts and service. All the while with me out in California.

I've had a Micra here on loan and it is a machine that hits a lot of points spot on. It is ready to use in 6 minutes, 9 minutes if you're really picky about the last degree or so. I've gotten spoiled with warm-up time over the last couple years with machines that are ready in under 10 minutes. "I think I'll have an espresso" is no longer something you need to plan. The Micra is surprisingly forgiving. It is small, around a foot width and should fit under most counters. I don't mess with temperature much and the preinfusion setting is also something that I think is "set and forget" for most people. That mitigates the weak app, at least for me. I'm not a fan of the portafilter either, mainly because it doesn't sit flat on my tamping surface in its bottomless configuration. A Pesado was around $120 delivered to the US (I looked for the same reason). The steaming is great. My wife is going to kill me if I don't buy one.