Best advice is to go to the different shops and check out the machines. Rather it be Bernina, Janome, Brother or Viking (my favorite) make see if you like the feel of the machine. See what the shop has to offer in reguards to classes and support. Get the largest hoops you can get 4x4 and 5x7 will be out grown very quickly so think about that; how far in the future would you be willing to upgrade if you got bored with what you got. Now as far as the designs; that's totally different. That's software. I have the 5D Pro; mines for Viking. It does it all including the portrait, cross stitch, cutwork needles, etc. For digitizing you'll want to get a decent program so check them out and see what fits. Good luck