The main things I love about my machine are the 9 inch throat area, the knee lift, auto thread cut, the pin feed system, and ability to drop the feed dogs...those are really the only things I need to have as far as a sewing machine for quilting...I do have another machine that has all the fancy stitches, but as some of the others have said straight stitch is really the only stitch I use for machine quilting...the machine I use for quilting is also an industrial model, meaning it can go up to 1500 stitches a minute, and it is all metal construction. It cost me under $700.00, and I love it!
Good luck to you,
Kif