Just a thought Jon, have you given ME much time.
I have used both and installed ME a couple of months ago. At first I did not like it, but now I've settled to it I think it is infinitely superior. It is certainly much more stable than 98 and I've added lots of stuff and taken bits off without the aggro I got with 98. My PC hardly crashes anymore, is definitely faster, quicker reboots and you get to like a lot of the functions: hibernate, restore to a point when it was working fine (not needed yet). The more annoying stuff like personal menus you can turn off.
I am only one of many who think this way.
Hope all is going OK for you whatever you decide.