Points taken, Tim. I totally appreciate where you're coming from - and indeed I might have agreed with you (and also with Justers) had it not been for the fact (which you must've missed earlier on the thread) that I've already tasted coffee from one of these machines, as we had one in the suite of our hotel in Austria last year!
We were staying there for a week, so had ample time to play with it and sample the coffee it makes (although at that time we had no real plans to buy a decent coffee machine), and it really does make a superb espresso and cappuccino - and that was only using coffee supplied by the hotel, which was nice but defo not the best, such as I'd be buying myself.
Therefore, based on the practical experience I've had with the machine already, I'd respectfully have to disagree with your opinion of it, although I understand and may have thought the same, had I not used one myself.
*However* nothing has been finalised yet, so ALL options are still being carefully considered. We're in no hurry whatsoever to make up our minds on what to get!
Marco.