In 2003, I bought a Janome 9500 that I really liked. The largest hoop was 5X7. I enjoyed it so much that when I upgraded last year, I bought a Janome 14000 with a much larger hoop. Both machines came with minimal, but functional software. I did buy better software for my computer, so I could do more with my designs, but I would not have had to. It is easy to convert designs from one format to another, so I wouldn't focus too much on that. If I had $1000 to spend and wanted the most for my money, I would consider buying an Embroidery ONLY machine. A dedicated embroidery machine offers more embroidery features at a lower cost because it does not have to function as a regular sewing machine. With a little shopping around, you should be able to get a new 400E for about $1000 or a good used 500E might be both better if you can find one. Brother also makes a respected line of affordable embroidery machines, but I don't have any experience with those.