I have owned 3 diffrent machines over the past 10 years with each one bigger than the last, current machine is 48" x 96".
Some suggestions for any size machine.
1. avoid machines with propritery software, Mach 3 is what I use as do many others.
2. Motion control, rack and pinion is best with belt drive being next I avoid screws and nuts they wear out too fast and are a real pain to replace. My current machine is belt drive and after 3 years of daily use I see no wear.
3. Avoid CAM software without trial software, you don't want to spend hundreds for something you can't use.
There are my opinions from thousands of hours of trial and error so take them as such.
They are versitile machines and you will find yourself making all kinds of neat stuff.