I just bought the Accuquilt studio. It won't accept the Accuquilt Go! dies but it will work with any *commercial* style die from other manufacturers like Ellison. The key is the *commercial* designation. These dies are much thicker and heavier and designed for heavy use.
I thought long and hard before purchasing the studio, but in the end it was the only one that had the exact sized geometric die that I needed and I can see myself using it a lot in the future. If I were going for applique, I'd probably go for one of the consumer models that have a wider range of decorative choices in their dies. And although I'm a Luddite myself and prefer mechanical to computerized, can see the advantages of cutter that can translate a personal design into an applique, even if slow.