What are your choices of top tech bargains, Guru?

AGuru, like you, is feeling the pinch, though that may be more due to his growing and increasingly furious lobster collection than any financial worries. Fear not, reader: welcome to Honest GaGu’s Bargain Emporium, where your favourite pennypinching uncle will rapid-fire you a whole bunch of ways to throw your meagre funds at neat things.

Samsung’s A series is home to the most bang-for-your-buck phones around; the A13 might lack storage and RAM but at £115 it’s perfect for your teenager; the A34, all of £400, has no such downsides and puts many flagship phones to shame. Need a laptop? Guru, through bile, must admit that a Chromebook Plus (the £400 Acer Chromebook Plus 515, why not) is a far better idea than skimping on a Windows laptop, and superior to the Chromebooks of yore.

Into games? Legally dubious contents aside, the quality of mini consoles coming out of China is astounding these days, so a £65 Miyoo Mini Plus is a great way to put thousands of retro games in one’s pocket. On the tabletop, simple is best: try Uno, Monopoly Deal, or GaGu favourite Port Royal (all £10-ish card games) for easy whip-it-out fun.

CMF by Nothing’s £50 Buds Pro are a bargain (though JLab’s non-ANC Go Air Pops are half the price); don’t miss the original Soundcore Q10 cans, particularly if you see them discounted to £30; the Xiaomi Smart Band 7 is a much better watch and activity tracker than you could reasonably expect for its £35 ask.

GaGu could go on. The point here is not that these delights exist for such a reasonable price, it’s that the relentless march of technology (and, er, card games) has driven us to the point where even the reasonable stuff is delightful. It’s a nice place to be.