I have a Laura Ashley machine since I'm just learning to sew. The one thing I will caution on it is the size of the "throat". If you plan to do anything larger than a baby quilt, it might be very difficult to get it to fit under the throat space since it's rather small.
I did a 4 x 6 quilt with a thick batting (because it will be used at concerts to sit on) on mine, and I was just barely able to get it in there, had to roll it up and smush it. I have the CX155LA model.
I don't have any suggestions though, I'm hoping to do a lot of quilting on an old Singer 301 I found at an estate sale.