I bought the PE770 last week as an addition to my 12 needle commercial machine. I wanted something small to do one color lace, bookmarks and quilt labels plus I have a large collection of small spools of embroidery thread that didn't work well on the large machine. The PE770 is meeting all my expectations - excellent stitch-outs, not too noisy and easy to use. Right now I have both machines running. The PE770 is doing lace snowflakes which will be inserted in Christmas cards. The 12 needle is doing a large cross stitch pillow design. I use several software programs for embroidery....Buzz Tools, Embird and Floriani. Just depends on what I want to do that day.
Don't get hung up on the price difference. My first embroidery machine was a New Home 8000 which cost over $3,000. The PE770 was a tad over $600 plus a super bonus package. (PM and I'll give you the dealer info). The PE770 runs circles around that New Home and it has features the 12 needle doesn't. The technology has changed greatly just like computers and the pricing has dropped accordingly.