Thanks so much for the info. everyone. I like both dealers for different reasons. My feeling is that the Bernina dealer knows more about their machines, and the owner is actually their technician as well. On the other hand, the Brother dealer readily honored the warranty on my current machine when it needed repair even though I told them I'd bought it from Amazon.com. Given that other folks who've bought machines on line have had problems with local dealers honoring warranties I have to say that my local Brother dealer's willingness to do so has generated a certain amount of customer loyalty on my part. I'm a bit hampered by my budget as well, so am having to think about who is more willing to deal and which company has special programs like interest free financing, etc, in which case the Bernina dealership actually comes out a little ahead. I have always used Brother machines, (except for my Singer 221) and been happy with them, but these days their machines which have the larger throat space are actually running a little more expensive than the Bernina B740. I really think I couldn't go wrong with either machine unless there is some issue that I don't know about with repairs, or some quirk about either one that quilters don't care for.
Rob