I posted part of this response to answer another similar question. Not everyone likes to buy a used machine as their first one or if the machine is a gift. The Singer 3323 has a good assortment of features including an automatic buttonholer which is great. It is also a mechanical machine (rather than electronic) which tend to be very reliable. There is a pretty thorough review of this machine on amazon which is worth a read. A similarly priced competitor with greater stitch capability is the Brother CS6000i. It has additional stitches and Brothers are good solid machines. Additionally, it has a quilting table which is good when you are sewing larger objects because it gives you a larger surface to work on. The Singer 4432 that another person mentioned also looks good - it has similar features (auto button holder, sewing platform) and appears to be more heavy duty but the trade off is fewer decorative stitches. The question comes down to how your wife intends to use the machine. My personal preference would be the Brother but I like the creativity that the stitch variety provides and my first machine was a Brother of a different model.