Any handmixer or new Sunbeam Mixmaster is going to labor in cookie dough unless it's not very much dough. Most handmixers won't even handle a small amount.
BTW that old Sunbeam of yours should be oiled regularly and I'll just bet you haven't done it have you!!! LOL
They should last forever that way and the old ones are way better than the newer ones.

Here's how you oil it... very very simple but you will need to get a bottle of sewing machine oil at Sears or a sewing machine store.

You will notice on top right in front of the mixfinder speed dial on the back there is a little hole,, put a few drops of sewing machine oil in there.

Then slide the handle down to the position for removing the beaters.. you will notice two holes, put a few drops of sewing machine oil down those holes.

Lastly, put a few drops of oil down the power take off thinga me bob up by the handle, the thing were you would attach the juicer attachment.

Gibby, I'm so pleased with my Bosch Compact. It's only 11 pounds, has a small footprint, & seems to tuck away on the kitchen countertop without hogging any space. The stiffest test was a double recipe of very heavy rye bread. The Compact bobbed & weaved, but no motor strain at all. No grinding noise, no oil smell. (The bread was great too!) Other than that, it handles everything with ease. Mine is 450 watts: strong but not a drain on the grid.

It doesn't have a "K beater" like a Kitchenaid (or the Hamilton Beach even), & I worried that the mixer attachments wouldn't be up to snuff. But I think I prefer the Compact's wire beater to a "K" beater anyway. The wire beater cuts shortening or butter into flour nicely for pie crusts & biscuits. The variable speeds allow for a light touch that pastry & biscuits require, and the wire beater is great for this. The wire beater works just fine for creaming soft butter & for making sugar-cookie-consistency cookie doughs. For creaming very cold butter & for stiffer doughs like oatmeal raisin cookies (& of course for kneaded bread doughs), the dough hook works well. The whisk makes fluffy egg whites & whipped cream, but all mixers excel at this :)

The splash guard is one piece and slides on & off easily. The ingredient hole on the splash guard could be bigger, but it's easy enough to turn the speed way down, remove the splash guard & add ingredients. The mixer head swings up & out of the way. I see at the Bosch-Germany site that they're coming out with a newer version of the Compact for the European market. It has more power & the bigger ingredient hole (and chic colors). Don't know if they'll market this in the US anytime soon though.

I bought the stainless steel bowl version with the blender & shredder attachments. I love the shredder! I get more control with it than I ever did my Cuisinart food processor because of the variable speed control & the various discs. And I like the 4 qt. stainless work bowl very much. It has a plastic foot on it to latch it into the mixer. The foot makes it stable for working when it's off the mixer -- doesn't skid around the counter, in other words. I also like the mixer's retractable cord.

I've linked to the stainless bowl version at Amazon which is listed at $314 + $20 shipping. Hmmm, I paid $270 for it last August with free shipping from Target. There's a plastic bowl version which is less expensive, and you can also get just the mixer without the blender & shredder for even less. There are various attachments like meat grinders, cookie extruders, & ice cream makers for sale at Bosch dealerships on the web.

Anyway, hope this helps in your search for a new mixer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bosch Compact

thanks pkguy and awm03

Haha - oiled that thing - I wonder if it's ever been oiled. I will do that and maybe it will last the rest of my days. I was actually thinking about getting another one off ebay - they have a nice pink one and a turquoise one!! I think turquoise would look better in my kitchen than pink. There is something about the "vintage" nature of it that I really like so why not get another one. I can only hope it's been oiled regularly. It's rather sad that things aren't built to last anymore.

awm - the Bosch sounds like something I should look into if I'm going to splurge on a new one - eleven pounds sounds reasonable. Thanks for the link - I am going to investigate further.

gibby3000, I love Sunbeam stand mixers. I replaced an older model a few years ago with a KA and was very sorry. I'm sure the KA is great for big batches of stuff and for bread bakers, but for the small amounts I do (like you), I was constantly having to mix the stuff at the bottom of the bowl by hand, to say nothing of the awkwardness of adding ingredients and scraping down. I finally sold it on eBay.

I just recently bought the Sunbeam Heritage 450-watt mixer, which is the top of the their line. It's intuitively easy to use. I love how the design makes it so simple to add ingredients.