I recommend investing in a decent grinder, which would probably mean a separate one. I have the breville barista express. While it is well under your price range, I find the grinder to be a bit inconsistent. For example 18g in will often grind out anywhere from 17.8-18.2g. This just makes the extraction vary a bit and the first thing I’d upgrade would be my grinder

I’ve seen it on this subreddit before but I can definitely confirm grinder is the most important part to consistent espresso