Hey,
It’s Pete Matheson with a new issue of Experiments in Progress.
Most "budget tech" comes with a catch.
It saves you money, then reminds you it saved you money every single time you pick it up. Cheap plastic. Laggy software. That hollow, creaky feeling.
But every now and then something comes along that's genuinely cheap… and doesn't feel cheap at all.
The Best Cheap Tech That Doesn't Feel Cheap
Here's my honest list of gear that costs less than it has any right to:
📱 Nothing Phone (4a): the budget phone that doesn't look budget
The Nothing Phone (4a) starts at £349, and the step-up (4a) Pro at £499 is the first full-metal phone Nothing has made which is where that proper premium-in-the-hand feeling really kicks in.
The thing is, even the standard (4a) doesn't feel like a corner-cutting exercise. The Glyph lighting, the clean software, the build — it all feels deliberate rather than budget.
Good value. Genuinely distinctive. Recommend.
🎮 8BitDo Controllers: the smart third-party pick
8BitDo controllers are around £30 on Amazon and they're brilliant. Compare that to the official first-party controllers, which run you £50, £60, sometimes more.
~£30 for 8BitDo
£50–£60+ for the official equivalents
You're getting most of what matters for roughly half the price.
Source: 8BitDo
💻 Apple MacBook Neo: the budget Mac
The MacBook Neo is Apple's first proper attempt at a cheap laptop, and at £599 it's a lot of machine for the money.
It runs the A18 Pro chip rather than M-series silicon but for browsing, writing, email and everyday use it flies. And crucially, it still has that solid aluminium MacBook feel.
(Worth noting: everyone else has started dropping their prices to compete with it, which tells you it landed.)
⌚ Apple Watch SE 3: Apple's best-value wearable
For what you get, Apple's budget watch is a really good bet.
The Apple Watch SE 3 covers the essentials that most people actually use — notifications, fitness tracking, fall detection, the lot — without paying Series 11 money.
If you're an iPhone owner who just wants an Apple Watch on your wrist and doesn't need ECG or the premium health sensors, the SE 3 is the one I'd point most people towards.
🟢 Fitbit Air: cheap tech with a smart brain
The Fitbit Air is £85 (or $99.99), a one-off price with no mandatory subscription. That alone makes it cheap tech that doesn't feel cheap.
It's powered by Gemini. Tell it something, and it actually remembers it.
When I was heading to China, I'd mentioned the flight to Gemini in passing. Then when it reported back on my sleep, instead of a dumb "you slept 5 hours, that was bad," it said something like "that flight to China — you actually got some great rest." My WHOOP just guilt-trips me with numbers. This understood the context.
🪑 Secretlab Atlas: "cheap" only by comparison
At around £500, the Secretlab Atlas (their new productivity chair) isn't budget in absolute terms.
But put it next to the Herman Miller Embody, which is roughly £1,700, and suddenly it's a bargain.
It's premium tech at a budget-relative price. You're getting a serious, properly-engineered office chair for under a third of the flagship money.
Source: Secretlab
🔋 Anker Power Bank: the unglamorous lifesaver
A decent Anker power bank for topping up your phone, watch, tablet or headphones on the go is one of those purchases you forget about until the day it saves you.
Source: Macworld
💸 The cheap tech I'd actually buy
If you want… | Get this |
|---|---|
A premium-feeling phone for less | |
Controllers without the platform tax | 8BitDo |
Your first (affordable) Mac | |
The best-value Apple Watch | |
Smart tracking, no subscription | |
A serious chair without flagship money | |
To never run out of battery |
When it comes to tech, where do you land?
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