Dyson appears to be folding the tent on the DC 15 tent; there are a lot of reasons I'd shy away from this model Dyson. First and foremost, in order to get the motor inside "the ball" Dyson had to make a new, smaller, and less powerful one. The DC 15 is weaker than all the other Dyson models. Second, the wand is narrower than all the other wands, so you have to use the little adapter if you plan on buying any newer tools to use with it (like the barefloor tool or soft dusting brush/mattress tool). Third, the beater bar access is annoying, you take the side caps off and the beater bar splits into two pieces (it's really strange).

I'm personally a much bigger fan of the DC 14, but the animal version of that doesn't exist anymore. The DC 17 is a great vacuum, but like all Dysons if you're area rugs aren't heavy ones it'll eat them alive--lots of power. You could always use the upholstrey tool to clean them if need be