I have had in the past a TSU3000 (the monochrome version of the 7000). It went defective due to either bad craftsmanship, design or parts. So... I was left to choose what to buy as a replacement. I thought about the TSU7500 or the MX-3000. I was not thrilled about buying another Phillips product but was willing to give them a second try if it proved to be the better remote. After doing a lot of research and soul searching I ended up with the MX-3000. Now having purchased the TSU3000 about 3 years ago, I have had a lot of time to play with the programming. So yes, at first I found the MX-3000 slightly harder to program as I was used to doing things a certain way. I did however quickly get used to the programming on the MX-3000. I can tell you that I came to a first working draft of a much better layout much quicker than I did with my TSU3000.
I can also tell you that at least in my opinion the differences in features between the 2 are really great as the use of variables in the MX-3000 makes for a much better remote. There are not discrete codes for most of my devices so turning a device on or off, it is critical for the remote to know the status of your equipment or it will turn a device that is on off. With variables, I was able to easily create a great setup that in some cases turns a button a different color depending on the state and will turn on or off only the components that need to be adjusted so something that is on when you change function and try to turn the device on won't turn it off in error as the variable can tell it not to run that command as it is already on.
There is also a timed press for a button so you can have a button do one thing but that same button if pressed for x seconds will do something else. I use this for example for my guide. If I am in the guide and want to watch a channel immediately I would highlight the channel under the current time and press select. In this case the guide will automatically shut down. I have the guide button actually send you to another device because I want the hard buttons to work differently when I an in the guide. I want that if the guide on the TV closes that I would be sent back to the page that sent me to the guide. That is easy to do BUT (ah, the big but...) If I am in the guide and select a channel under a future time, I would then choose by pressing select again on whether I want to record that program, set a reminder etc. In this case, pressing SET should not return me to my non-guide page. So sometimes the page on the MX-3000 screen does not match the state of my guide on my TV. What I do is have it that a press of SET for more than 1 second automatically sends the SET command and then returns you to the original non-guide page but a <1 sec press leaves you on that page.
Things that would be unattainable with the TSU7000 are quite attainable here with some creative programming. Yes the MX-3000 is easier and IMO a better remote. I am sure you will not be sorry buying that one.