Greetings,

I am considering purchasing a new machine.  I have narrowed it down to a Brother PE550 and a Singer Superb EM200.

I am looking for opinions on both or either.  I have no experience with the systems and have only seen the industrial systems in action.

Hi, Scott!

Never worked with particular models, sorry, though I have a Brother PE535 (specs are here), which is quite similar to your option. So what I can say - your option have more in-built designs than mine. The touch screen works great and is responsive to light touches. And if you want to make a custom design - I transfer new designs via a USB stick. In general, it's fine for the beginner, quite user friendly, instructions are clear, and I had no serious issues with it.
Though I'd recommend you to have a look at models with bigger hoops - 4x4 is a quite small work-space. Since you're going to progress (I can assure you - you will!), you probably might want to upgrade soon. Though if you don't want to work with bigger projects, you can make the larger design you like smaller so that will fit in your hoop (for instance, it works if you have PE-Design). Personally I think that bigger hoop would be more effective - unfortunately, for PE535 you can do designs up to 4x4 (even if you buy a bigger hoop).

So, what's your level and your budget? Let's start with this. 

Hi, Mary.

 I don’t know if you helped to Scott, but for me, as  beginner,  your message was very useful! Thank you!