I've worked in a modern shop a little bit, and I can say that I would love to have a disc and belt sander, and an oxy-acetylene setup. Whenever I find myself a semi-permanent place to live and some shop space, those are probably first on the list, along with a drill press. Punching holes isn't glamorous enough to justify the hassle, in my mind. Drawing, tapering, welding, bending, on the other hand...
As far as bandsaws are concerned, I'm told that you're not likely to find one that does both horizontal and vertical operations equally well for any useful value of "well", but there may be models out there that work satisfactorily in both configurations. I have not done any independent research, due to the time period of my usual work and my available funds and space.
Also, I think it is really hard to go wrong with a MIG as long as you learn to use it well. It makes short work of many long tasks.
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