We used to do real trees, but it just became too much of a hassle. We went pre-lit about 10 years ago and haven’t looked back. Last year we had a section go out, so I wrote a note on our new 2021 calendar to my future self. When I flipped the calendar to October, there was a note written to me that I’d forgotten all about: “Check Tree!!!” Anyway, the tree had more than one section out so my wife and I meticulously removed all of the lights from it. It took like 2 hours to get them all off.
We strung lights on it like you would a normal tree and I don’t think you can even tell.