With the projects I have in mind strength isn't a real concern; although, I know vacuum bags can put down some decent PSI (lots of people use them for laminating skateboards/longboards for example). I need the versatility that vaccum bagging offers. I'll mainly be doing some finish work and some light lamination with the setup.
The guys who do use vacuum bagging either have a lot of money invested in the setups, or a superb vacuum pump on hand. If you're doing light laminations then go for it, but keep in mind you're maxed out pressure would be 14.7 PSI at sea level, but yes, you can't really beat the versatility of a bag set up. A good place for vacuum pumps are AC shops that have been around for a long time, I got mine for free since my family has had the same AC guy for almost 20 years, and we recently hooked him up with a $10k job.
EDIT: Sorry, when you said veneers, I read laminations. But I would have said the same thing regardless. Try it out with cheap bags first as well, then once you get the hang of it, move on to the nicer bags.