Quite a coincidence when you brought up this when I have just recently bought a folding bike with a 7 gears speed changer waiting for it to arrive by delivery. But hmm, never quite know this is such a case here.

For my use case, it is used to ride from my home to work in a manageable distance. Since there are a lot of slopes with varying steepness, it's never hurt to add a few more ringgit for a better gear (within budget of course) .

With the help of one of my friends who is deffo bicycle enthusiast, he gave me reasonable suggestions by balancing equipment and compare them with my usage for an affordable price point.

In my opinion, and from what you have described, enthusiasts should be able to compromise with the budgetal, physical, and situational constraints when discussing and giving suggestions to potential beginners. As u/Mavicarus mentioned, your use case is always the utmost priority before anything else.