The aim of this paper is the isotropic design of a hybrid morphology dedicated to 3-axis machining applications. It is necessary to ensure the feasibility of continuous, singularity-free trajectories, as well as a good manipulability in position and velocity. We want to propose an alternative design to conventional serial machine-tools. We compare a serial PPP machine-tool (three prismatic orthogonal axes) with a hybrid architecture which we optimize only the first two axes. The critrerion used for the optimization is the conditioning of the Jacobian matrices. The optimum, namely isotropy, can be obtained which provides our architecture with excellent manipulability properties.