hi robyn and welcome to the board. i personally would buy the best i could afford. there are certainly many great deals to be had on the computer. but just know that if you purchase say a brother it costco, amazon and like and anything goes wrong you are the one that has to ship that machine back to brother. if you purchased at an authorized dealer, that dealer has to look at the machine. so you gotta weigh your choices. also, i'd feel guilty goin to my local shop that i frequent, take a class there, expect help, and not purchase a machine from them. but that's me. good luck in your decision.