I recommend trying out gas-pressure ballpoints. Some may know them as "space pen" but if you look for something with that name, you overpay most of the time. I got mine for about 5€ including cartridge.

The advantages, IMO, is that they require much less friction and pressure to write and last much longer: I've been using the same cartridge for about 5 years now, two of which I spent with writing a lot (higher school; FOS, german school type) and the rest with infrequent usage (sometimes dry ink collects at the tip but it'll break off once you start writing.

The only downside is that some models tend to leak more ink than necessary, I've observed this in two cheaper cartridges that I only used briefly. It leads to some smudging if you're lefthanded.

A $20 Retro 51 rollerball is a fantastic "It Just Works" pen that's a step up from Bic disposables -- Looks great, feels great -- I've gotten a ton of compliments on mine, but it's not expensive to the point where you worry too much about it, and fountain pens, while fun, are a bit moody.

I’m pretty particular but the main ones I like are the Uniball Signo 207, either the .5 or .7 tip but now I’ve moved to the Uniball Jetstream, just feels smoother. Then I just buy the refills which are pretty cheap and less wasteful.

"any suggestions for a low-maintenance first ballpoint"?

A bic crystal? Or did you mean first fountain pen?

Parker (EDIT: Pilot) Metropolitan.