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Hi David,
I've been in your situation before. Maybe it's just me, but constantly nudging my first 8" solid tube dob to keep objects in the field of view grew very tiresome in a big hurry (like, 5 minutes into its first night out I was turning the air blue with industrial-strength obscenities trying to track objects in a non-goto scope). Particularly painful when trying to entertain friends and family, especially at higher magnifications. Obviously budget plays a big role in the choice of a first scope, and much wiser heads than mine might argue for increased aperture over goto functionality, but I've found I get a lot more use and enjoyment out of my scope with the goto addition. As others have said, $1999 for a 12" goto dob is going to be hard to beat - I've done a bit of researching lately and haven't seen one for under $2k anywhere. The straight rod collapsible OTAs take about 13 seconds out of your life to set up, so I wouldn't let that concern you, and they'll save valuable space when lugging them in the car, as well as making the tube easier to pick up. If you get the larger aperture scope, you'll probably want the goto version sooner rather than later, and if you get the smaller aperture with goto, there's a good chance you'll want to get the larger aperture scope pretty soon too. The great thing about this hobby is that there'll always be something new to put on your telescope shopping/wish list! Good luck.
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