So much depends on what you want to do with the machine. I fell in love with Berninas when I worked for a dealer. She made her bread and butter by doing alterations and custom dressmaking. I used the machines everyday when I worked in her shop. I now own 4 Berninas and a Singer Featherweight. I found that the more things the machine will do such as decorative stitches and embroidery the less stable the basic straight stitch. I purchased the Bernina 1260 16 years ago because while I did garment sewing I was basically a quilter. The straight stitch on that model was rock solid. I prefer using a seperate machine for embroidery mainly because it allows me to do that while I am using my other machine for something else. I am also a little lazy and hate using a machine I have to change plates or disassemble or reassemble to do other tasks. I spent a little more for my serger as it can switch from regular to rolled edge with the push of a button. Changing throat plates etc. was not something I wanted to mess with on a regular basis. I love my 1260 but it is an older machine and mostly metal. I purchased a newer less expensive model Bernina in the last year because it weighs almost half the weight of my other model. It allows me to take the newer one on retreat without having to lug that heavy machine.