As a long-time Bernina girl myself, I don't think you can go wrong with them either. The real Berninas (as compared with some of the ones labelled "Bernette") are pretty bullet proof. The ones with the narrower stitching (5 mm stitch width) use a different bobbin system than the ones with wider stitching (9 mm). I personally prefer the straight stitch quality of the 5 mm system, but you need to decide yourself which one you prefer. Note that if you get the wider stitch width you might have a bit more challenge keeping the piecing perfectly straight. The wider feed dogs let the fabric "wander", but you can learn to compensate.
I also second the recommendation to investigate separate machines for sewing and embroidery if you have the space. Like mpspeedy, I frequently have my embroidery machine running while I'm sitting at the sewing machine doing something else.
Pam