@cabledude
Like i said, each person has their own requirements, for me, running it as a VM makes more sense as i have other VMs and containers running anyway, so another VM adds little to nothing to the existing power draw.
While for me personally, looking for the next model up at a higher cost may not yield me much with 200/200, if you upgrade your ISPs package, you may need a higher throughput - you have to ask yourself, is that likely and if so, is it soon, if not, grab one suitable enough for today and the next few years, the prices of the others will come down and you can re-evaluate.
The one you rented should have given you an insight in to if that's enough for your needs or not.
I should have also added, my CPUs are Intel Xeon E5-2650V3 @ 2.3Ghz and my ISP provides me 380/36.
If your not proud and don't mind used or ex-corporate kit, why not see if eBay or other such sites have a higher spec, used device but at a fraction of the cost?
Or ask the rental place if they sell any ex-demo units?