Two things to debunk:
1) Straight gauge spokes have only one thing going for them: They're cheap. They're no stronger and they're a touch heavier than butted spokes. That's it.
2) Colored spokes are not weaker than un-colored spokes. They just have a coating of paint/dye on their surface. Which makes them more expensive than spokes of similar gauge and butting.
I second the retension and true. HOWEVER wheelsets on entry level bikes, in my experience, have been difficult to work with; set to proper tension and true to spec. This as compared to hand-built custom wheels and more expensive off-the-shelf models from such companies as Mavic or Fulcrum et cetera ad nauseum. Part of the problem is lower quality spokes the other part is low-quality rims.