In my opinion, a stand alone embroidery machine is your best buy. That way, you can work with it at the same time you sew with a second machine. They tell you that you can start a design and walk off an leave it, generally thats not the case. You don't have to sit there staring at it, but you need to be in the same room and listening to it. Not to mention changing threads.
My first choice is the Janome, and if you can get the 300E, its a great machine for the price. The 350 comes next.
Just remmember, when you combine two functions, sewing and emb, you short change each a little to compensate for the other.
I've sold Janome, Viking and Singer embroidery machines, and for the money, you can't do better than Janome. Although I haven't sold Brothers, I understand that their stand-alone mach is pretty good as well.
Lanny