My wife has decided that she needs an embroidery machine... And has been doing some shopping. I'm out of town, but have been 'helping' a little online. She has picked out a few models that she likes- I'd like to surprise her with one, but need a little input.

She wants something that she can use a computer to do all the design work on, then transfer to the machine. From my limited research, it looks like most of the higher end machines allow this. I know a lot of the nicer machines have touch screens that allow the designs to be edited right on the machine, but she doesn't seem to think that's so great if most of the design work is done on a computer anyway. It seems that they run about $2k more with the built in touch screens that allow this editing.

She likes the Pfaff Creative 2.0 a LOT. We've got a dealer that's not too far away that seemed to offer a pretty good price, along with instruction. It's in the $4k range, and they are going to include some sort of design software (I dont recall the name, but it was like $1800), as well as thread, and some misc. items.

She also looked at, and liked, a Brother Innov-�s 1500D. I think it was a LOT less money- Something like $2400. The dealer is MUCH closer to us, just on the other side of town, so she'd be able to get there for classes, service, etc a lot easier.

Anyone know how the two compare? Any additional input? This is a pretty big purchase, I want to get it right!