One can fund the other though. Besides, if you’re tinkering with hardware, it really is super cheap already. ATmega’s are less than a meal. Various capacitors and resistors on Amazon in variety packs for a couple 20s. A soldering iron station for $50. Power supply for $40. It’s the same cost of entry as an entry level laptop…
How do you program your atmega? with a laptop. Also you won't go anywhere with few resistors and capacitors, you also need transistors, diodes, maybe LED, maybe some soldering, wires, breadboard, some sensors to have fun with, some ICs such as 555 timer and other op-amp. Eventually some voltage converters, a multimeter and logic gates.
The list can be long and at the end, for software you need a laptop, for electronic you need a laptop + many things. And those things can cost (the shipping cost more, actually).
I'm seeing electronics kits on amazon for $55... Yes, you need a laptop (or another atmega, or a rpi) to program your atmega. I'm saying it's not as capital restrictive as it seems. For <$500 USD you can be in for both the laptop and the necessary components, sensors, soldering iron, flux, resistors, caps, diodes, transistors, buttons, breadboard, brass wool, A book on electronics, and multimeter.
The list is long, but the prices aren't. All of this is less than an NVidia card.
