It's a good idea to experiment.
I started out with King Tut, which I believe is a 40wt cotton thread. It was okay, but I didn't like the lint and I did get occasional breakage. Then I tried Glide, a 40wt polyester thread. Glide gave me much less lint to clean, no breakage, and I liked the little bit of shine it gave to my quilts.
Recently I tried Bottom Line, a 60wt polyester thread, in both top and bobbin and fell in love! My quilting looks sooooo much better! The silver color is supposed to blend in with everything, and I am loving that color too.
Liked the Bottom Line so much, I ordered Superior's 100wt monoquilter thread to try out. But for now, think I will stick with Bottom Line for awhile.
I agree with others that these days polyester is perfectly fine to use in quilts. It is not going to rip the cotton material over time. I prefer cotton thread for piecing (Aurifil 50wt) for a couple of reasons, one of which is that it is more "clingy" and so does not slip out of my stitches when I am chain piecing and cutting between pieces. However, for frame quilting, I much prefer polyester thread. I believe 40wt cotton thread was the gold standard for many years before polyester threads improved so much. People have a tendency to stick with what works for them, so your advice may be coming from someone who is old school that way. Nothing wrong with old school, but nothing wrong with new school either.
Most machines do well with a wide variety of types and weights of thread. Some do not like a particular thread. Experimenting yourself is the best way to find out what your machine likes and what you yourself like. I only wish I had tried out the Bottom Line before I bought so many cones of Glide!