Thoughts on choice
Well as I make decisions price falls into the category alot, aside from that I think the following were some of my major concerns of choice:
The Lathe: Size of through hole in the head. Are the parts I'm planning to make going to fit? Swing over bed. Ease of selecting threading feeds and speeds. Length of bed, will it hold a barrell or barrelled action.
The mill: length of travel and depth of travel of the bed. Maximim clearance between the head stock and bed.
I think my greates concern was the through hole on the lathe being large enough to hold a "Bull Barrell" I chose my lathe for the 1 1/2 inch through hole size, it came with the 40 inch length. The length I'll probably not use,
most of my work is done in the first 15 inches of the bed. I can how ever turn a contour barrel if I choose with this length. It has tail stock off set available and I did purchase a taper attachment with it.
On the mill think about the mill vise, it will take away available space between the head and bed, as will a drill chuck or even a boring head. the model I chose, unlike the one I sold has plenty of space, (so far).
Look into the future, as you gain experience and tooling, your projects may grow in size along with your knowledge.
Enjoy..