I know what you mean, that's why I went with the MOD0, because it's just slightly different. I've done absolutely nothing to it apart from add some bits for looks and wired it to Deans. Now use it as my backup gun, although I keep offering it to teammates who have problems with their own, means other people have probably used it more than me! Having said that, everyone who's used it has loved the thing.
If you like the M4 platform then there are absolutely loads of variants available so you'll be sure to find something you like. The Patrol Base website is very well laid out for browsing through but if you see something you like you'll probably have to go somewhere else to find it in stock.
I don't know much about AKs apart from the fact that stock Cyma ones are cheap as chips and pretty awesome straight out of the box. Not sure how common it is but a lot of the people I know with AKs seem to end up with odd issues with them (might not be Cyma though), from feeding to weak compression, could just be that they've bought crap to be honest.
Ultimately buy whatever takes your fancy, dress it up with whatever accessories you want and enjoy it, and if you want ideas of how different they can all look then take a look through the gun picture thread or GearTech's paint job thread. ?
