I'm just a dumb old smuck homeowner who lives in the woods and needs a reliable saw. I looked at the 350's and decided for an extra $100 I could get a 359 with 33% more horsepower, bigger bar, another pound or two of weight, larger fuel tank, etc. There is a dealer not far in case I have issues but my goal is to only visit him for the occasional replacement filters, etc. Baileys has a good deal on the 359.
http://store.baileys-online.com/cgi-bin/baileys/991
Here is a story about how I use a chain saw.
Just last Saturday morning I heard a tree cracking and falling, which isn't unusual in the woods behind my house. Something is always falling. Later in the day when mowing the grass it dawned on me that something looked funny at the edge of the lot. A 30" diameter black cherry had lost it's top half which was resting on one of my maples that border the back yard. Now I'm not a fan of hung-up trees/limbs. I got out my trusty Husky 359, my chaps, helmet, gloves, gas/oil, boots, etc. and trucked all the stuff to the back of the lot. I dropped it in the open space of the yard, putting a light offset to the hinge so it would shift off the maple when it fell. The 359 with 20" bar (and sharp chain) allowed me to fell the tree and cut it up in about 2 hours. I would guess the height of the black cherry was about 60-80". Black cherry isn't the hardest wood but with this tree's size and type I'm not sure I could have done this with a 350 with 18" bar as efficiently.
The point of my story is that you should get a saw that fits your purposes and needs. I don't think there is a "perfect" saw. For me, I occasionally have some serious wood to cut and getting a good middle-of- the-road saw like the 359 was worth spending the extra $100.
If I can get 10 years out of it, and I should easily, that only amounts to
$10/year additional cost for a saw that is 1/3rd more powerful saw than the 350.