I bought one used and am very satisfied with it. I also am using SewWhatPro with it to upload designs to my disks. The machine takes a little getting used to; but then they all do. There is a nice and helpful Designer 1 Yahoo group. I think it would serve you better than either a Janome or a Brother. I paid 600.00 for mine.

I started with a Brother way back when and upgraded to my Duetta 4500D about 4 years ago. I love it and never a problem with it!
K

I have a Singer Futura 350 and I love it. It works with a laptop computer so all my designs can be backedup and stored on other computers. It works wish all the other formats and it easy (at least for me) to get started with. I don't care for it much as a regular sewing machine because there isn't much room in the presser foot area for changing out feet and using the enclosed screwdriver. Great built in stitches and sews beautifully. It's my go to machine when I want to machine quilt from table runners to lap quilts. Draw-backs are the stitch width and length selector bar. I wish this was digital and not a slide bar. I am also not very fond of the mock hand quilting stitch. But I love the serpentine stitch for quilting. Priced under 1,000 it was a good buy over all.

Yes, floppy disks are still available. I can buy them at the local office supply or order them from E-bay. I have a Babylock that uses floppies, but they can be transferred to an Amazing Box and then put on a memory card for your machine or on a thumb drive for later transfer when you want them.