2024's Priciest Tech: These Are The Most Expensive Products We Tried

It's a great time to be a tech and gadget enthusiast. There are all sorts of fascinating new developments in a variety of sectors, showcasing the overall trajectory of user-grade devices for years to come. We here at SlashGear have checked out multiple new products over the course of 2024, uncovering some truly excellent purchases.

On the subject of purchases, though, while it has been a great year for tech, it hasn't exactly been a great year for buying tech. This stuff is expensive, to put the matter lightly. Next-level technological developments don't come cheap, and many of the products we've reviewed, quality though they may be, will cost you a proverbial arm and leg. Such is the price you have to pay for advancement.

On the bright side, if you do have a massive stack of cash burning a hole in your wallet, we've checked out tons of neat stuff for you to blow it all on. Here are some of the most expensive items that we've reviewed across several different product segments in 2024.

Touchscreens have become a more ubiquitous part of our lives for well over a decade now. Not just our smartphones, but even our laptops can have touchscreens these days. Of course, even if a laptop has a touchscreen, there's still a normal keyboard beneath for typing. What if, however, you were to do away with the keyboard entirely and just have two touchscreens hinged together? Well, then you'd have the Lenovo Yogi Book 9i and its first-of-its-kind dual touchscreen setup.

Technically speaking, the Yogi Book 9i does have a physical keyboard, but the included cover on the keyboard can also be used as a presentation stand. If they keyboard is not available to you, just wave your hand along the bottom screen, and a touch keyboard appears.

It's not all gimmicks, of course; the Yogi Book 9i also packs up to 32GB of RAM and an optional 1TB SSD, more than enough to suit most busy users. SlashGear's Cameron Aubernon scored the Gen 9 (2024) version of the laptop at 8 out of 10, with his only real complaints being the occasional fingerprint smudge, the somewhat finicky touch keyboard, and of course, the starting price tag of $1,980.

If you're looking for a convenient way to go camping, a car rooftop tent is a nice option. It's elevated, on a solid platform, and since it's already attached to your car, you don't have to worry about lugging it around with you. There are plenty of rooftop car tents on the market, but SlashGear's Michael Teo Van Runkle got a chance to try out one of the latest advancements in car camping technology: the Roofnest Condor Overland 2.

He was surprised by how easy the tent was to both unfold and pack up, and in turn, how roomy and comfortable it ended up being. It features a rugged hardshell that helps keep it safe while on the road, as well as built-in insulation for the occasional cold night. He had a perfectly content night's sleep, though the lack of an insulated window meant he couldn't watch the sun rise. At $3,745, it's competitively priced compared to other rooftop tents, which helped earn the tent its 8 out of 10 score, though it's certainly no drop in the bucket either.

When foldable smartphones first emerged on the scene in the late 2010s, nobody really knew what to think of such a thing. How could you have a smartphone screen that folds without breaking? In some cases, the answer was "you don't," but for the major brands like Samsung, it was the beginning of an entirely new sector of personal devices. Years later, folding smartphones have become a big chunk of Samsung's mobile device offerings, with one of its newest developments being the Galaxy Z Fold 6.

SlashGear's Chris Burns was rather impressed with this new folding phone, scoring it at 9 out of 10. The screens used in the phone's construction are of top-shelf quality, with both being high-resolution and resilient, and with squared corners for maximum possible coverage.

The phone is pretty much a straight upgrade from the Galaxy Z Fold 5, packing similar features but with more overt processing muscle. It's also got an impressive triple-camera array comparable to those present on the Galaxy S24. Of course, as has become the case with folding smartphones, they ain't cheap. This particular device, when purchased with its max 1TB internal storage, costs $2,259.99. The 256GB version lists for $1,899.

In addition to new forms of alternative power, a big concern of the energy sector is the long-term storage and utilization of power. After all, we'd have to burn a lot less fossil fuel to keep the lights on if we could all keep a big ol' battery in our basements. Home battery backup systems have become an attractive purchase for large homes, particularly those that may be at risk of regular, sustained power loss due to weather or grid interruptions. One such example of these systems came about in the form of the EcoFlow Smart Home Panel 2 and Delta Pro Ultra, which our own Adam Doud tested out in his home for a month. He scored it at a 7 out of 10.

These devices, working in concert with one another, were able to supply power to an entire residential home during simulated blackout situations. It's not a product for casual use; these devices need to be professionally hooked up to your home's power grid by an electrician, which can be intimidating. Once it's in there, though, it can be controlled and customized via a partnered smartphone app, kicking in just 20 milliseconds after a power outage. If you wanted to get the Smart Home Panel, the Delta Pro Ultra, and a power inverter, the whole caboodle would cost you around $7,499.

Out of all the devices, gadgets, and assorted doodads we checked out here at SlashGear over the course of 2024, the most frequent and most expensive were undoubtedly the many different film and digital cameras and lenses. There were a lot of cameras that were released this year, and all the heavy hitters cost at least $1,000.

Some standouts from SlashGear's reviews include the Sigma 50mm f1.2 DG DN ART lens, the Leica SL3 full-frame mirrorless camera, and the DJI Ronin 4D-8K cinematic camera, all three of which were reviewed by SlashGear's Andy Zahn.

The Sigma 50mm lens was scored at a perfect 10 out of 10, citing excellent image quality, a sturdy and robust design, and extensive, in-depth controls directly on the lens. There weren't any particular complaints, with even the price tag being comparatively reasonable at $1,399.

The Leica SL3, a release from one of the world's most prominent camera brands, scored a hearty 8 out of 10. The user interface was a bit strange, and the autofocus was somewhat lacking, but the picture quality was perfect, and the camera had many useful settings. As a Leica camera, this one upped the ante to $6,995.

The most expensive camera, and indeed, the most expensive anything SlashGear reviewed all year, was the DJI Ronin 4D-8K. A professional-grade cinematic camera, this bad boy features silver-screen-quality video, gimbal stabilization, and various convenient connection formats. It scored a 9 out of 10, nearly perfect if not for the fact that it costs almost as much as a car at around $12,828.