The choice of stove or a ‘cooking system’ is always a trade off: weigh, size, convenience, personal preference, cost, fuel availability, etc all have to get taken into consideration. The ‘perfect’ system all depends a lot upon the intended use and there’s loads of information/ opinions/ reviews on the internet for you to research and after making up your mind there will always be someone to disagree, anyway here’s my opinions.
If you’re only going to be using for overnight trips (brews + rehydrating a packet meal) and you’re NOT really concerned about weight the Jetboil certainly fits the bill. These boil 500ml of water really fast, 2 – 3mins, but they do weigh more than the alternatives, the ‘Classic’ ~ 425g and £75, the titanium version is 330g but ~ £125. Plus you can’t put the pot on the bothy fire when the gas runs out.
If you’re looking for a more flexible set up, maybe you’re thinking of multi-day trips in the future, I’d start with a good titanium cooking pot around 750 – 1000ml (titanium is pretty non-stick as well as light) then choose the stove(s). I use the Evernew 1000ml Pasta Pot (115g) which is big enough for heating enough water to make a cup of soup (250ml) and cooking up a large solo meal (600ml) in one go, plus as an added benefit a 230g gas cartridge fits snugly inside.
For one or two nights probably the lightest and simplest stove is the Hexamine. The Titanium Esbit Stove or the Gram Cracker only weigh a few grams, add to that a few 14g tabs, a pot cosy and a good wind shield (the Caldera cone is probably the best) you’ll have a pot/ stove/ fuel combo that weighs ~200g inc fuel and it's dead cheap.
Alternatively you could go for a meths stove, meths is cheaper and more widely available than Esbit tabs, you do risk spillages and you’ll use twice the weight in fuel than the Esbit tabs but you can get some stoves that simmer.
Both fuels take a lot longer to boil water than the Jetboil; 1 Esbit tab, 500ml in 5-6mins; 30ml meths 500ml in 7 – 8 mins; but if you’re sitting in tent on a windy night what’s the hurry. For an overnight trips I’ll normally use an Evernew Ti meths stove (similar to Trangia) with homemade pot stand, windshield, cosy and 75ml of fuel all up weigh ~ 250g inc fuel.
The gas canister stoves are probably the most convenient to use and quite fuel efficient, I find I use around 30g/ day so a 230g cartridge will last a week, however replacement cartridges can be hard to find at times. With any gas stove I’d recommend using a MSR canister stand (I broke the Primus one) to aid stability. The MSR Pocket/ Micro Rocket stoves are good choices, lightweight and are good for boiling water quickly (not as quite as fast as the Jetboil) but not very good for simmering, the answer to this is to use a pot cosy. See
http://www.theoutdoorsstation.co.uk/2011/12/christmas-within-tent/ for a good demo, very useful with all stoves as it saves fuel. All up weigh for this system (Ti pot, Pocket Rocket, canister stand, pot cosy and windshield, no fuel canister) is ~ 330g same as the Jetboil Ti and cost ~£100.
Be aware that some of the gas stoves have a wide flame pattern which make them unsuitable for use with the smaller diameter pots and this can increased fuel usage by 50%, I’ve a nice Vango Ti stove that I now use for car camping but only with larger pots or frying pan because of this. Also don’t bother with ignition systems they’ll eventually pack in, take a couple of disposable lighters (convenience + lighting candles) and a fire steel (100% reliable).
For
flexibility/ price I would recommend starting with a titanium pot, a trangia meths burner (not the lightest but cheap) + trivet (pot stand), pot cosy (you can make one out of an old karrimat), wind shield (one cut from an aluminium turkey roasting dish works good) and a fire steel; you can always add a gas stove to your kit later.