You can search the web over and find at least 100 debates about the best commercial espresso machines. My goal here is to simply compare two machines that I am interested in for my coffee shop. If money was no issue - then I might be comparing the La Marzocco Linea PB and the Black Eagle - but I digress. Here is a little background: my coffee shop currently has a Linea 3 group volumetric machine and it is getting on in years. It has been an absolute horse and it just keeps pounding out great espresso time after time. We love this machine! So, since the Linea we have is getting older, we want to have a backup plan for our next machine. It was narrowed down to a new Linea or the White Eagle because my roaster can fix them both fast and always has parts available. His discounted price doesn't hurt either. I happen to really like both machines and they will definitely get the job done. So, here is my hangup - a new Linea 3 group is more money than the 3 group White Eagle and it has no new features to play around with. I would actually be paying more money just to have a newer version of what I am running now. I know, if it is not broken then why mess with it? That's true, but the White Eagle is less expensive and it has a ton of new features that will help my Baristas be more consistent. It happens to be very cool looking as well. I like the steam controls, the open group-heads, and the pre-infusion. My concern is that it doesn't seem as sturdy as the Linea and the machine looks and feels like a work of art - rather than a beast. I don't want to get into the whole heat exchanger vs double boiler thing, as I know both machines can go forever without much fluctuation in heat. Oh and lastly, the VA White Eagle has an onboard computer for setting variables and each group head has a shot timer. All of this considered it's still a tough call! What would you do, stick with the old horse or try the new cool kid? -Van