Hot water heater recommendations

I did a search and didn't really see a thread specifically about this, so if I missed it and someone could link it instead of answering here that would be great, thanks.

Anyway, we built our house in 2004 and still have the original 50 Gal electric hot water heater installed in our attic that was installed by the builder. FWIW, it's a RUUD Model: PE2-52-1. No obvious issues yet, but from what I understand we are well past the typical lifespan of a hot water heater. So instead of waiting for it to fail, I'm looking to replace it.

I was intrigued by the idea of a heat pump type. Again, it's located in the attic in South Louisiana which ranges from blisteringly hot for 6 months out of the year, to hot another 4 and chilly the other 2. From what I understand about the tech, it's pulling hot air from the space and using it to heat the water, so the hotter the space the easier time it has. Also, this model has back-up heating elements for if/when it can't draw heat form the space I guess. But, I have no clue. This was the one I had been looking at.

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In addition, we do have natural gas in the house, so a gas water heater is not off the table if that's a better option. And when I did search I saw a thread or two about tankless, but nothing really in depth.

I'm wide open here and am looking for some suggestions, so any help would be appreciated.