Sewing Machine Advice?

A few years ago, I bought a new Singer machine rather than pay to overhaul the Husqvarna/Viking I received from my grandmother.  In retrospect, overhauling the 20+ year old machine might've been a better move.  My "new" machine had no-frills and would be ok for occasional sewing, but now that I started quilting it doesn't fit the bill.  Sewing machines have gotten a lot more interesting since I was a kid learning to sew.  What I need is a good solid sewing machine that allows me to freehand machine quilt.  What I want is a sewing/quilting/embroidery machine that can cut like a serger, like one of the new Brother Quattro machines:

*drool*

According to the Brother website, look at all the COOL things it does:

Unfortunately, something like this runs close to $10,000.  Definitely out of my price range.

This is a little closer, but still a little above what I was hoping to spend:

Not nearly as cool, but it does embroidery and sewing for under $500.  Still more than I want to spend but at least this one doesn't cost as much as a small car.

All in all, the Brother machines seem to have killer features at much lower price points than the other manufacturers.  The question then becomes, will these machines last?  Because they have more plastic parts than the high end models.

*sigh*   I wish I'd gotten her Bernina.

Please visit our Etsy store for all kinds of upcycled accessories and jewelry, created in Hawaii!