One thing you might want to factor in to your decision is what dealers are in your area. I have only Viking or Bernina in my area besides Brother, Singer (neither of which interest me). I had my old Viking for 15 years and loved it! It was computerized, but never gave me a problem and was not tempermental. Turn on and sew. When I finally worked it to death, I started searching for a replacement. I didn't see anything of interest in my price range at the Bernina dealer. I did not want to drive 70+ miles to buy a machine in case I needed/wanted to go back for assistance.
They have a Viking dealer inside my local Joann's, but they aren't very friendly there, so I went further south and bought from a different dealer. She's very nice and includes unlimited "know your machine" classes (Joann's offered 2).
I bought the Viking Sapphire 830 ~ next choice would have been the Emerald. I liked both, but it was only $100 more for the Sapphire, so I opted for that because of the 9" throat. I love it! I did have a little trouble at first, but it was user error. I was trying to use the free motion spring feet that I had from my old Viking. But the Sapphire has auto pressure foot sensor, so I think that was what the problem was. I took it back to the dealer and she had me try another foot, which worked perfectly! I would have purchased it, but she gave it to me. The other problem was tension, but I found that there were times the foot wasn't all the way up, so the tension hadn't released properly. Again, user error. Now that I'm aware of that problem, I know what to check.
If you do machine quilting, bring a small quilt sandwich when you test drive the machines. If you test it doing what you mainly are sewing, you'll get a better feel for it than just checking out the pretty decorative stitches like I did. :)