Is the 600 dollar Breville model any good to buy for a first espresso machine? Coffee is my greatest vice and I'd love a machine that can froth milk, make strong cups of coffee, and have the portafilter slot.
I can make a separate post to populate more on the community.
The Breville Bambino (Plus) with a nice grinder is basically an impossible value-to-money ratio to beat. Also remember to factor in a scale that's accurate to 0.1g, a cheap WDT tool with thin needles (i.e. 0.35mm), and a dosing funnel to make the WDT not messy. If your budget is limited then you can skip the WDT tool I guess.
I wouldn't go for the Barista Express/Pro because the built in grinder is not very good. The "impress" version of the Barista Express could still be worth it if you're not looking to make espresso a hobby and just want something easy that will make tasty drinks. I'd recommend joining the Espresso Afficianado's discord server, which is where a lot of the /r/espresso long-stays moved to after the reddit API stuff. There's a channel for beginners that can help you get started.
Once I'm not broke I'll get back on how it is... No clue if you have any idea on buying used coffee or espresso machines, but I saw one for $300 online. The discount makes me wonder if something is wrong with the machine lol