Turntable? Arm or cartridge?

For non techie buyer, it is always safe to go for the whole package, rather than going for separates.
If you want to go for the separate route, as suggested by others, the best bang for the buck would come from tonearm+headshell+cartridge combo.
I am not an expert, but I would rather go for the cartridge first, then matching headshell, and then compatible tonearm, then the driver+plinth.
However, I would not recommend that route to beginners. Think about it. Purchasing a cartridge, headshell, tonearm, and then driver and plinth all separately, and setting up together for the optimum performance, is quite overwhelming job for beginners. If you are lucky, you will be able to get the whole at once at reasonable price.

To address your question - I would spend my budget on the Arm, then Cartridge and finally turntable in that order - why?

IMO Without a good arm you'll never get the best out of ANY cartridge

Cartridge next, because it works directly with the arm and needs to be as compatible as possible

Turntable is last, because today, most TT's are pretty good quality and will work well with a many arms

But - as some posters have pointed out - it gets far more complicated.

Just another opinion :-)

Regards - Steve

Turntable is #1 IMO. After you have that ‘base’, arms and carts can come and go and make an improvement, or not. But, you cannot put just any arm and cart on any turntable and reap the same benefits.

IMO everything is important but the arm is the most important .

Tonearm, then drive unit, then cartridge. Although it would be a most strange combination, I would put a Reed 3P arm, Merrill Gem Dandy Polytable turntable, and a Denon 103R up against anything at the same price.