I have 4 machines by Brother and 1 by Babylock. Brother is very owner friendly--Babylock is a more expensive copy of the Brother brand. I love both brands. They all use the .pes design format, but that is not important if you already have designs. There is free software for changing the format to fit your machine (whatever you buy). In fact, there are several free softwares. If you think you want to make your own designs, then the softwares can be very costly.The more important question for you is how large do you want to be able to embroider, because your machine will have hoop sizes locked in and you cannot add larger hoops than your machine was designed for. Many buy machines with 4x4 hoop and then are unhappy when they realize that is their limit. My machines are locked into 6.25 x 10.25, but I have been comfortable w/that size as my limit.