The throat space on the 1200 is quite a bit bigger than our regular sewing machines, and the 1200 is capable of sewing 1600 stitches per minute I believe (and the speed is adjustable). These are good qualities, but I know a lot of people on this board have quilted bed-sized quilts on their sewing machines with excellent results. The reason we wanted the GrandQuilter was that we wanted the whole package - frame, stitch regulator, and machine. Maybe someone who knows how can tell you how they managed to quilt big quilts on their machines, then you can decide if it's worth spending $1,400 on a sewing machine (on steroids) just for quilting.
Hope this helps.
Darren