It is a great machine. The 300E can use both 4x4 and 5x7 hoops. The only downsides of a 300e is that it uses a PCI card and is not USB capable and it doesn't have an auto cutter. Both of those are very minor upgrades but they are the 2 that bothered me the most. And with the cards the smaller the better nothing of 2gig or the machine won't read it. I think this is a downfall of all embroidery machines tho, others will have to let me know on that. Even with a USB machine it cannot be a large memory stick or the machine just won't read it. Good luck with shopping :-)