Reading several blogs recently I came across a discussion string of which tools to use for various food preparation tasks. The most used tools in our kitchen were not mentioned
For mincing and chopping the food processor almost never comes out of its place in the cabinet. The preferred tool to rough chop and dice onions or peppers, finely mince Italian parsley or to julienne a carrot, the tool that we use is an 
8 inch chef’s knife.
The curved blade rocks across the parsley and minces in a flash. The 3 or 4 inches near the handle do the mincing and a two handing motion keeps the blade moving safely. The full blade is used for the dicing and chopping.
For a typical recipe the chef’s knife does the job quicker than hauling out a food processor and cleaning it after use. Our fine Cusinart processor really seldom is used except when we are hosting a big event
When we do use a processor it is inevitably our small 4 cup model that does the job
A blender is used for blending liquids and really doesn’t do a great job when used for short cuts with mincing or making bread crumbs
Buy a decent knife as the first tool in the kitchen and spend a little time developing knife skills. You don’t need to have the speed of Bobby Flay but a decent level of skill will add to the enjoyment of meal preparation