Bought a Sapphire 850 in Feb 2008 as an all purpose machine - I thought I might like to quilt, had no interest in an embroidery machine (silly me!). Loved the Sapphire. Great machine. Then I went to a guild quilt show and saw beautiful embroidered quilt tops. I was hooked! Did a trade up to the Designer Diamond. Love it, love it, love it - and know I don't know all the things it can do. Then I came across a used SE so I got it for classes and times when I'm embroidering on one and sewing on another (Christmas would not have been finished without that second machine!). Love it too. Think I'm hooked on Vikings.
But...buy your dealer. The machine may be good but if the dealer is bad you won't be happy. You're going to have questions, you may want to take some classes and you may have service or warranty issues. You want the dealer to help you with those things. Happy shopping and sewing!