Hi Guy! What a wonderful surprise you are planning for your wife. I worked at a quilt shop/sewing machine store for several years, and we repaired them also.
First of all: definitely whatever brand you buy, make sure it is from a dealer, and not off the net or from WallyWorld. She will need the support/lessons/warranty from a dealer.
I quilt on one machine and embroider on another. It is wonderful to do it that way as you can be embroidering while you are quilting. The "all in one" QUEEN machines that do it all limit you to be able to do that, so while she is embroidering on her "all in one", she will have to continue to use her other machine she owns now to quilt & do regular sewing. Don't missunderstand me...the "all in one machines" are WONDERFUL and TERRIFIC in today's electronic digital world, but you can only do embroidery OR sewing on them..........not both at the same time.
If there is a Janome Dealer in your city, be sure you take a look at their machines. They hardly ever need repair and are very user friendly and most owners can do their own oiling/cleaning maintenance on them. The Corporation is a good company and they are definitely customer service oriented. They have a machine that does ONLY embroidery and that's all it does...(I have one of those)..and then they have other machines for quilting & regular sewing. Yes, they have one of those "all in one QUEEN" machines too, and it is TOP OF THE LINE...excellent.
Hope you have a computer and high end one, as she will need it to store all of her embroidery designs...or a separate external hard drive (which is what I have).
Now...that I've totally confused you. LOL! Have a good time looking and surprising your wife, and be prepared to spend more than a few dollars!
MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and her! You are one terrific Santa!