It really falls down to what you want in a keyboard. Arrangers and synths are in two differnt categories, and you'll find a lot of different opinions on the two.. However, it is true that many professionals still consider arrangers toys.. I honestly think they're mad because they now realize that arrangers are doing just as much as their synths and more. Personally I've owned both arrangers and synths.. I think it would benefit anyone to own both considering neither are bad types of keyboards.. With the arranger you'll have the auto accomp feature that follows your chord changes. Synths do not do this.. With a synth you basically program just about everything... Tracks are all recorded from scratch, including drum tracks.. However, some more recent synths are now inluding preset drum patterns, but these do not function like arrangers. They are just drum patterns and nothing more and can be used as a basis for constucting a song.. With the arrangers you can make your own styles, and they too will follow your chord changes just like the preset styles.. Many of the upper end arrangers offer so much now.. Example: the Yamaha PSR-2000.. This keyboard has a lot of features for a decent price.. You get digital drawbars for the organs, vocalizer, and quite a few other things.. Synths don't come with drawbars.., no wait I take that back, some do allow you to use the realtime sliders as drawbars.. I recall the GEM Equinox allowed this.. You'll find the arranger is geared more towards the musician who wants the all in one package for recording and performing.. Synths can be used for this too, but they require much more programing. Their operating systems are quite extensive and can get very deep...