Finally, it should be taken into account the frequency of game sessions. The sense of character accomplishment and progress evaporates quickly when you have to wait a month or more for a new adventure. In this case, the advantages of a low BP game would not be felt by the players; these games would certainly be more fun with powerful characters.
This stuck out to me quite a bit. In our case...our main SR game gets to play roughly three times a year. Plus, we don't use huge Karma awards. Needless to say, we don't often get to go much of anywhere in terms of development; this is why the 750 Karma, RC edition is so good for us. We can have some great fun in the short time we get to play, maybe pick up a couple of small skills, but still not feel like we're held back too much.
I also admit to enjoying a slightly more well oiled character myself. I don't mind a low powered game, but I'd prefer that to be a game that I can actually play in rather regularly in that case. For me, part of the fun of playing lower end people is the actual growth that you see them do from ''peon'' to ''awesome'' over time, through all the hard work and blood. Getting to play 3 times a year with low Karma awards doesn't quite let one see that, so in that case, we just come out on the ''Oiled Pro(with a pink 'hawk, of course!) but not Prime material'' and move up slowly from that.