i have a friedn that does a LOT of sewing and stuff - she will ONLY buy brother - and only the ones that number ends with D (there is something about them but not sure what)
I think she showed us those ones, they did all sorts of disney embroidery, looked pretty cool.
I think you are right though about getting the machines seperately, makes more sense.

The brother ones did look nice, just have to sort out how much we want to spend, I suppose once we get into it we will also want an overlocker.
The computer geek in me keeps calling them overclocker lol.

I'd love to learn how to make quilts and all sorts of things.