I have a small Brother HE 120 sewing embroidery combo, that can only do a 4 * 4 field. This was a great starter machine that read a card only. I felt like I was very limited to what I could do with it.
I just recently upgraded to a Laura Ashley because I wanted to be able to many other things with my machine.
While looking at new machines, I found many of the Brother machines that are available now are great starter machines.
My suggestion to a newbie with an embroidery machine would be:
1. Be able to use 4x4, and 5x7 fields as a minimum.
2. Try to get one that reads a card and either plugs into a computer or reads a USB stick.
3. One that has an easy to load bobbin with embroidery work still on the machine.

My suggestion is find a LQS that sells them and spend lots of time with them looking and trying out the machines they have.
have fun. Having a new machine is alot of fun.
Good Luck,
Megan

I just use my SEW What Pro software that I got from an on-line company to do my designs and then I load them to a USB or a card using a card reader and put them into either of of my machines. The software is not fancy but it can do a lot and it was not expensive. I have not had any problems with any of the designs I have purchased or downloaded working in my program.