I've been playing classical ~6 years on a upright AP, but now that I'm moving out from home, I need to buy my own. I was going to buy another AP until I realized how expensive they were, so I think I have to go with DPs for now.

It does not need to be portable, and I already have a good pair of speakers that I can hook up to it.

Any recommendations under $1k?

Given your playing time, I'd target second hand high-end models (Roland HP-20x, Yamaha CLP-3xx, Kawais are too new and I didn't test old generations).

If you want it new, Yamaha P155 or Kawai MP6 could also serve you. The replacement for ES6 could also lay in your range.

I think the only one he listed under 1k is the P155. The MP6 sells for 1499 and the ES6 is close to this or a hundred less or so.

I would look at a Yamaha CP33 along with the P155.

In addition to the Yamaha's mentioned, look at Casio PX-830 at about $900 or for $1100, the AP-420. Roland's least expensive model is the F-110 at about $1250. I think there are Kawai models starting around $1100, and Korg has the LP350 at about $1000, too.

Yamaha P155. From what I can tell, the next significant bump is up to the Roland FP7F, and that's a fair bit over $1000.

The DP can do things the AP can't so it's not a matter of "stelling" for a digital. They are better for recording, music composition, editing scores and so on because they connect so easy to a computer. Also silent practice with headphones will be a big advantage if your new home has shared walls with neighbors. Headphones might even be a requirement.

At the under $1K price you have only a few options. I have a P155 and it has just come down in price to $1K. It works well as a practice piano. People say the keys are a bit hard but that is an advantage in a DP. I would not call it "hard" just that you can feel that the hammers have mass.

If yu go below the $1K point you have the Yamaha P95 and Casio PX130. Normally I'd prefer Yamaha but in this one case I think the PX130 is better in terms of action and tone. There are more expensive Casio models but they share the same action as the Px130 so the cheaper model is the best value. The P95 uses a completly different key action from the P155 and the P155 ans P95 are not alike at all.

If you buy either of these buy the matching stand, they are over priced but work better then any folding stand and bolt on rather than depend on gravity.

The other option depends on luck. If you happen to find a recent model used DP for under $1K it might be worth it. But it would need to be a recent model (say within 3 years) and priced very much under market. You'd need to be lucky. Ask for opinions on this forum before you buy. You would be surprised at how many used DPs are sold for a higher price then a comparable new DP. Many buys and sellers are ignorant of the current market

Yeah, those are nice features but I'll probably just treat this like a normal AP and play for myself .

Thanks for all the suggestions, seems like there's a lot of different opinions. My biggest concern is the action of the keys, as I have tried (albeit, cheap and crappy) DPs in the paste and keys had no resistance. Is it easy to find these models in local piano stores and try them out?

Yes key action is the #1 thing to look for. What exact models did you try in the past? Where they "pianos" or "synthisizers". A "synth action" keyboard will have very light keys with no hammer action at all. It's a different instrument, like a pipe organ, they are not digital pianos. The stores sell many more synthisizers then pianos, and even more guitars, that is just the current market. So if you test some randon keyboard in a store likely it will be an un-weighted synth action.

One of the better places that will have many DPs is either of the two big chain stores Sam Ash or Guitar Center. They will have other non-piano keyboard instruments too so do just try the pianos. I would make a point to play all the DPs even those over your budget and keep notes then go home and look up what key action is used in what piano so as to learn what actions you like and don't like. Bring headphones as those stores are very noisy

Piano dealers do carry digital pianos but mostly they only cary the high end models as those small shops can't live off the small markup. I doubt any piano dealer would stock many sub $1K DPs.