I'd tend to agree in general that I'd slightly favor the Yamaha MG boards, but the Mackie VLZ are fine. Ultimately it depends on what kind of features and routing options you're going to want.
I'm using a Behringer X Air 18 for most everything these days. There is no problem with noise; do not confuse the X series with the cheaper Xenyx models. Unless you absolutely need to have a physical control surface, the 12-18 channel X series are really impossible to beat for features in their price range. I suppose you could also add a controller, but then your price point is completely changing.
Every channel has it's own gate, compressor, and para EQ options. You can drop FX on individual channels or use up to 4 busses, there's a lot of options there you aren't going to find in the analog controlled models at the same price point, but there are certainly some pros and cons, but I find the pros to far outweigh the cons.
They operate via PC, MacOS, iOS, Android, pretty much anything... and simultaneously. In my rehearsal space, I keep it hooked up to the Mac for recording and making most of my changes, and tweak via the iPad or Android phones. Local gigs, I bring up the stored settings on the iPad and use that for the 'desk', and anybody I trust can tweak via their mobile device.
It can also function as a multitrack recording interface and live mixer separately and concurrently, which is super cool.
I personally still favor separate power amps with passive speakers, but that's basically because I find it easier to diagnose and repair/replace faulty components in that setup. I don't find weight to be a problem much either way, modern class D power sections have virtually negligible weight. I have 1000 watt Crown units with built in crossovers and limiting and all that fun stuff (yay for not needing any outboard gear since it's all covered by the mixer and amps) that weigh less than 10 pounds, and I'd imagine stuffing that into a speaker enclosure would further reduce that since you don't need the rack enclosure any longer.
For example, my relatively ancient Peavey mains are over 75 pounds apiece. Equivalent modern powered units are more than likely going to be in the area of 40-50 pounds per. There is also certainly some flexibility and convenience in the powered speaker world that you don't get with the component pieces, but I have yet to find that inconvenience or need great enough to make me shell out the money to make the change.