Budget buys: The best value gadgets to own

STOP weeping into your wallet. Saving those cents to pay for mushrooms doesn’t mean you still can’t spoil yourself. Here are our top tech bargains.

Get in on the 4K act without giving your wallet too much of a fright.

WHEN it comes to buying the latest gadgets you don’t always have to pull out your credit card with a trembling hand as there are plenty of great bargains to be had.

We’ll always lust after the shiniest, top spec, premium pieces of technology but we don’t always have the spare cash to own them, especially after the latest Federal Budget changes. However spending less doesn’t mean you’ll have to miss out entirely.

Value gadgetry has come on leaps and bounds in recent years and if you’re willing to sacrifice a feature here and there plus the fashionable logo you’ll be pleasantly surprised how much kit you can get for your money.

Mobile: Motorola Moto G

Pocket pleaser. The Moto G is a budget handset with plenty to offer.

Say budget mobile and we think of feature-lacking, ugly handsets that get us laughed at. However, this mobile from Motorola blows that idea of the water. The sleek 4.5-inch Android is a pleasant and cheery package at an attractive price that no mobile can match for value. Its display is bright and punchy, it comes with an interchangeable colourful rear panel and it’s speedy enough to take on most tasks. The 5MP camera isn’t the greatest around with shots lacking sharpness and rich colour, and it doesn’t come with 4G but the price more than makes up for this. The best mobile bargain around.

www.motorola.com.au

$243 (contract-free price at JB Hi-Fi)

Television: TCL U65E5691FDS 4K

Get in on the 4K act without giving your wallet too much of a fright.

Years ago finding a TV with bang for your buck wasn’t easy. Now there’s a multitude of sets worth casting your eye towards. With HD slowly becoming overshadowed by the looming higher-resolution of 4K, which is four times the resolution of current Full HD, you too can get in on the scene without breaking the bank. The likes of Kogan and HiSense have launched 4K super-budget sub-$1000 sets but picture quality has been pretty questionable. This, however, while not under $1000 is a whopper at 65-inches and actually has a performance to match the attractive price tag. Images are stunningly vivid and impressively colourful. A surprisingly pleasing step into the world of 4K without the painful cost.

www.tclelectronics.com.au

$2600

Tablet: Kogan Agora HD Mini

It might not be fruity but this tablet comes with a tasty price tag.

You don’t have to drop a wedge to get a tablet experience but when shopping for bargain basement slates it can be a far cry from the silkiness of certain fruit-branded models. Kogan’s value Android tablet comes in at under $200 and has a performance that isn’t too terrible and some decent specs. It comes with a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, 16GB of memory (there’s a micro-SD slot to expand this), an 8MP camera on the back and a 4.9MP camera on the front, plus a 7.85-inch screen. The display is noticeably murkier than most but as a tablet it’s fine at handling simple tasks like browsing and running a few non-intensive apps. But that’s about it.

www.kogan.com

$199

Laptop: Acer C720

Chromebook. A cheap and cheerful way to computing.

If you want a laptop but have limited funds the best route to go is a Chromebook. These don’t have the full buffet of features you’ll find in a top-end laptop, instead they only work online offing a slimlined set of functions with everything you do from browsing to working on Excel spreadsheets done via an internet connection, not stored on the computer itself. Essentially they are a portal for you to access web applications and the cloud, keeping them light and cheap as they don’t need heavy and expensive components needed in your usual laptop. The best buy for penny pinchers is Acer’s C720 with a 1.4GHz processor that can handle the majority of computing tasks, but will struggle with intensive tasks. It comes with 8.5-hours of battery life and a decent 11.6-inch display for its price. You do get 16GB Solid State Drive so you can store some things on the machine itself but it’s really minimal compared to the free 100GB of online storage you get with the purchase.

www.acer.com.au

$326