You will find most of us here playing with more expensive toys generally but a lot of us started with machines like this to a touch better. Couple of simple things you need to get your head around first are: 1 To make decent Espresso coffee at home you need a reasonable burr grinder. Sunbeam EM450/480 or the new Breville Smart grinder are about the bottom end of this range the Delonghi one for example is not really up to the job. 2 To make proper Espresso you need to use un pressurised portafilters (the delonghi has pressurised ones) These pressurised ones are referred to as Crema enhancer etc and will generally not give a decent shot quality. In some cases (not all) you can buy non pressurised ones to suit machines. 3 You need good quality fresh beans. Biggest mistake people get into is buying whatever is on the stupormarket shelves these are generally beyond their best before they hit the shelf for a start. Couple of decent combos other than the Delonghi (personal view don't bother) to consider at present. Sunbeam EM4800 / EM450 machine and grinder. Mod it to take a non pressurised basket should come in under $400 I think. Sunbeam EM6910 / EM480 combo is a touch under $700 and a really good entry level combination. Plenty of members here have done or still own one. Breville BES820 / Smart Grinder or to keep the price down a little consider the Sunbeam grinders. Not a fan of the BES860 combo machine as the grind quality is a little suss. Pricing $600'ish I think. There is a couple to look at for a start anyway 🙂
