One of the most important things for me when I got a new machine a year or so ago was the extra throat space so I could machine quilt. I have the Janome 6600 and it has 9 1/2 inches of throat space and I love it. I took a class on FMQ yesterday and used the feature of not using the pedal and it made a huge diffence in my FMQ stitches as it was one less thing I had to worry about and control.
I guess you need to decide how much you can spend and what features you would like in a machine and then narrow it down from there. I looked (just now) at the Bernina you mentioned and could not tell how big the throat space is and for quilting that is really important to me but may not be to you! I hope you find exactly what you want, happy shopping. :-)