emusonacid! legacy

Hi!

I'm thinking of getting myself a hardware sampler. Well currently my needs is just sample, play, pitch and so on, mainly studio, sound base / film work. the 2 samplers brands i'm looking at are the Akai MPC 1000 and the Emu samplers. I like the akai pads and the portablity of it. But the price is rather steep for me at the moment. Then looking for emu samplers on ebay, i came up with a few models that i can afford. Can someone tell me what the major difference between an Emu ESI 4000 or the E6400? I understand that the E6400 Ultra had hold an ide harddisk. that is what i really like, an internal harddisk.
I like the idea of beating out a beat but i also like to layer my samples on different keys to create new sounds. Can the Mpc do this?

So, what would you guys recommend for my needs?

best
dze