The 1/2NL games I normally play allow min buy-in of $100 and max of $300. I normally buy in for $200 since its 100x the bb and I'm comfortable of going in pre-flop with $200 with any premium holding whereas $300 I might fold non KK+ hands.
What amount do you like to buy-in for? And any reason why?
I think the answer here depends on a few factors...
How experienced a player are you ?
How experience are your opponents ?
The deeper the stacks, the more the game becomes and implied
odds game. ie Post flop decision making, opponent reading, betting etc gets more and more important. Just like you would like to grab an opponents stack they would like to do similar to you.
If you are short stacked, the post flop decision making is not as important as the preflop decision making. You need to get your starting hand range right, position on table right, table image right, and then commit to a hand at the right time and situation. Most of the time (short stack) you would already be pot committed (or close to), so the post flop decision is relatively easy.