My first embroidery machine (which I still have) was the Brother SE270, which I purchased at Wal-Mart. It is a combo machine. Never had a bit of trouble with it; however, it has only a 4x4" hoop capacity.
My second was a Brother PE770 II. That upgraded me to a 5x7" hoop, which allows more flexibility in designs. I could still use all of my Brother embroidery cards with this machine. The one drawback (which I didn't think would be a big deal, but ended up being pretty significant) is that you cannot transfer designs to this machine without a computer. There is a special cord that goes from the machine to the computer to download the design to the machine. There is no ability to use a USB stick to hold designs for the machine. The next step up is the Brother PE 770 which does have the USB capability. I wish I had spent the extra hundred bucks to get that machine instead of the one I bought. Again, I never had any tension or other problems with that machine.
(Actually, right before Christmas my machine suffered an unfortunate accident, and the LCD screen was broken, so it's not currently working. Not sure what I'm going to do about that, since fixing it is not in the budget right now. But, I digress.)
I also have a very old Viking Designer I which was gifted to me by a wonderful friend. The machine is so old is still uses 3.5" floppy disks for designs! However, it works like a charm. Does beautiful embroidery and sewing (it's a combo machine).
I think if money was no object (and you certainly have a robust enough budget!) I would go with Viking. I think their machines are very solidly built and have a lot of features you don't see otherwise. I also have no need of Disney designs so that wouldn't influence me to turn more toward Brother.
Hope you're able to make a decision that makes you happy!!
