I also have the Brother Project Runway PC420 that rryder talked about. I bought it from Overstock.com as a backup machine, but it is now my main machine because I love it so much. I have owned several low-end Brother machines (meaning, ones that were not purchased from a dealership) and have had absolutely no problems with any of them. They have not needed maintenance such as the computer motherboard going or anything like that. Of course, I've also had several (modern, not antique) Singers which didn't give me any problems either, and people generally pan those on this Board like crazy. Guess maybe I'm just lucky with machines!
This is the model I have, currently selling on Overstock for $399:
http://www.overstock.com/Crafts-Sewi...ml?searchidx=2
I wanted to comment on a couple of other things in your post.
I know lots of people are going to tell you to get yourself to a dealer and try lots of machines, which isn't bad advice; however, some of us either don't have dealers close by, or (in my case) have dealers near us that we do NOT want to deal with (no pun intended). I think if you are experienced enough, and know exactly what you want, you can buy a machine without a dealer.
As far as only being able to quilt straight lines - not true! Even with a relatively small machine like my PR420, you can free-motion quilt the heck out of your stuff if you're willing to experiment! If you don't know Leah Day yet, check her out on YouTube or on her website. She definitely has some wonderful ideas and tips for quilting on a small domestic machine that could help you. Hey, I didn't think it was possible either until I tried it!