I have to agree with everyone else. Let her have a say in the decision making process. All of us who have machines especially after we've been sewing for a while know what features we'd like to have that we may not have currently because they either didn't exist at the time or we didn't know about them. This is her time to be able to indulge. I think anyone who is getting a machine, especially when its emb too, should make sure they like the store where they are getting it and how the customer service, the classes and just good old support is. I've been sewing for tons of yrs but when I went high tech on my machine, my LQS held classes just on the features of the sewing part of my machine and the two more classes just on the emb part. I was surprised at what I could do on my machine. I never seen alot of this stuff in the manuals and never would have known about the features without the stores classes. What good is it to have a great machine if you don't know about all of its features. This is a really nice thing you all are doing for her and I'm sure she'll enjoy it alot but do let her have a say so in what she'd want for a machine. If nothing else, try and take the opportunity to have a discussion in general about machines, including emb and see if she mentions any certain one. She may already have one she'd like but can't afford.