I am going to say #2.

I would like a search, because if I didn't upvote something to save it from day/months ago, i still would want to see if the topic existed. People may have written a quality comment on another thread and may not want to repeat it, or comment 'this has been talked about already'

I know I can use google, but I can't see if it has been commented on. I really like the site and want to stay within it to do everything.