If I had to make this decision today, I would go with 949. I have my doubts that castings are made in Taiwan. Casting quality is very important, but they (and probably the machining as well) are outsourced from China. How would you know the difference?
5 years ago I bought a 949 PM mill, which, I was told by Matt, was made in Taiwan. Only recently I have found a piece of old newspaper inside the ram internal cavity. Whoever assembled this machine left that piece inside. My Chinese co-worker easily identified the paper as being Chinese with 100% certainty. It even had a proper date and name of the Chinese province on it. So now I know that Matt lied to me. By the way Chinese do not remove the casting sand from the castings - this may be one way to tell...
As much as casting and machining quality is important, the assembly beats them all. Bad assembly culture destroys the benefits of having good design and good parts. If the pin does not go in the hole, take a bigger hammer and drive it in. If the screw does not go all the way in the hole, cut it off - it must be too long. You never check the machine functions after you put it together, after all you not paid to do that. These are just a few examples of poor assembly habits and I have seen way more than that.
I am not sure if 949 mill from "Taiwan" today is any better that my 5 year old "Taiwan" mill. You may only find this out upon complete dis-assembly and inspection of every part. I did just that and I know I would never buy this machine again given a choice. For this kind of money there are plenty of good quality used industrial machines you can buy. At the very least these machines have a proper design and were made to serve the industry and not just fool those stupid American customers. You think you are not qualified enough to take such a huge risk to buy a used machine without any warranty? I know, I've been in the same boat. Please do not be afraid!