Anyone know if this the best "consumer-level" machine for this sort of stuff?
https://www.amazon.com/Brother-SE400-Combination-Computerize...
If so, what would be the next likely step up?
https://www.amazon.com/Brother-SE400-Combination-Computerize...
If so, what would be the next likely step up?
I would recommend picking up an "obsolete" home embroidery machine. Models that were top of the line 10+ years ago can be had for a steal and most have seen little use. That will require sacrificing USB connectivity but you can get a more capable machine in the end.
I've been personally using the SewArt software (paid $75) with Wine emulator on my Mac and it miraculously works. I'm looking forward to trying out this Inkscape extension, the SewArt stuff is hilariously bad while simultaneously being one of the most expensive software licenses on my computer.
Fun fact, this machine has 476KB (kilobytes!!) of memory to hold these designs, which is smaller than I thought possible for consumer hardware in this day. How do you outfit a machine with a USB connector and then put 400k of memory on it? Also fun, your PES file sizes can't be more than around 40k.