My first embroidery machine was the Brother PC8500. It is a combo machine, both embroidery and sewing. I loved it! Up to 5x7 embroidery field, lots of nice built in decorative stitches. Uses cards, so you'll want to pick up an Ultimate Box and Card to use with this embroidery machine.

I have since upgraded to the Brother Innovis 4000D. Also a very nice machine, combination sewing and embroidery. Disney designs built in, though I very rarely use them. Field is up to 6x10. Can accept designs on cards, as well as by USB, so you can either load up a thumb drive, or connect directly to your PC.

Two things I don't like about the Innovis 4000D. First off, I don't like the automatic tie off stitches at the beginning. Makes for a sloppy back on the embroidery. There's no way to turn this feature off as of yet, but there have been some online upgrades so that may come. The second thing is that I miss a lot of the decorative stitches from my 8500. The built in deco stitches on this machine lean heavily to floral, heirloom, faux smocking, cross stitch. Not the cute, kid friendly ones from the 8500 (miss that rocket and stars, LOL).

Some plusses for the 4000D are the automatic threader, faster embroidery speed, being able to do regular sewing with the embroidery arm still attached.