I love my Janome 8900 that I bought after going through a Viking Designer 1 (thought I would do embroidery - didn't) and a Pfaff 2056. I love my Janome. It has an 11" throat and I do large quilts, which is helpful since I do machine binding. It also has enough stitches to do any embellishing that I want. I like embroidery, but have no desire to have an embroidery machine.
I had a serger, but found it too complicated for me. I would consider buying one now, since there are some good improvements, such as self threading.
I am lucky enough to have been able to buy my longarm. That said, I don't quilt for others, just charity and myself.
As others have said, a good dealer is important. I actually bought my machine from a dealer an 1 - 1/2 hour away, because the dealer near me was not very good.