Use the built-in LSP to open channels. You can open channels manually, but you'll be responsible for keeping a channel backup yourself. LSP channels are great general purpose channels.
Only open manual channels to specific nodes for a specific reason. For instance, if you were a hardcore seller on Robosats, you'd open a channel to the Robosats coordinator you use.
A lot of people get in trouble when they just open a channel to some random node.