To be honest, it just looks like a normal conical burr grinder to me.
Maybe the reason its so expensive its the oak wood they used for the grinder's body.

No idea   .

From my beginner's point of view, I can't really tell apart the difference

Noob question: Does the zero retention in the grinder can make huge difference for filter/drip coffee?

Hi ymeng85 and lowkl thank you for your inputs!

I guess I will go for the Breville Dual Boiler.

And yes, I've been told that a grinder is extremely important in espresso making and this made me much more afraid to make a choice on it.

For an entry level, which grinder is decent for home use?

I've been a barista before, part time and only got to learn to make espresso based drinks, no chance to learn the grinder part since my day job got really overwhelming

ymeng u know any one ?
They can finish my 200 gram in two day .... really cannot tahan.
thanks

I see, thanks for the informative reply.

Btw, what would be the effect of grinding beans with ‘blade’ grinder?

If you’re serious with espresso, I would not recommend  a hand grinder because grinding for espresso takes a really long time; you’ll get tired of it and want to upgrade it later anyway. For sub 1k, can take a look at De Longhi Dedica grinder (https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=220s&v=SfQBqOGZPLQ) or a Breville grinder. I think Welhome also has some decent ones.

Agreed. An advantage an electric grinder will have is the capability to let you trial-error calibrate your coffee quickly.
Espresso prep is not a fixed 1-2-3 step cos calibration is very subjective to your taste preference and also changes daily/different coffee

Also, once you have a good recipe, you would hope that the grinder is delivering the same consistency from cup to cup otherwise it may falsely throw you off on calibration causing you to waste alot of precious coffee and arm strength 

perhaps your info has not been updated.

there are quite a few chinese made manual grinders that will
give lido and commandante a good run for half or less than
the prices.

i consider the 600n type an entry level electric grinder and it
is cheaper than many good manual grinders.

fyi... porlex is neither here nor there. more expensive then the
hario by more than RM100 and cheaper than the Anonymous
by about RM70 or so. not worth considering imo.

there was a direct comparison. refer to lowkl post; to nottyKitty and an
earlier posting by squall840...

i did not go to the meet up when lowkl and squall840 did a comparison
between their MICs (1Zpresso and Anonymous 2) with the exact grinders you
mentioned. they probably had a tasting too. lowkl was looking at Lido 3. i
think he is pretty happy with the MIC he now has, especially after the meet-up.
same with squall840.

these MICs built quality is good and grinds really well. among a few forumers
here, we have these MICs... Anonymous, Wonderful, Timemore and 1Zpresso.
one has a Kinu M47 too (and Wonderful). i have not got my hands to try the
Wonderful since it is in Spore but my favorite is the 1Zpresso ZPro with 48mm
Titanium coated steel burr.

do try these MICs out and you'll probably agree with me that they give those
famous brands like Lido, Commy, Helor,... a good run. keep in mind these MICs
are +/-half the price.. a Commy can buy like 3 Anonys.

I seldom trust gwai-lo forums on comparison matter especially when they get
anal and got quantitative. many of them are keyboard and cut&paste warriors.