Buying a Digital Press (Now)? -- Waldman

Unfortunately, at this point, the reality doesn't completely live up to the promise. The key reasons are the high cost of disposables and their slow production speeds (speed is rated at one-sided letter-size impressions per minute), which yields a pathetically low crossover (from a cost standpoint) to small offset. Remember, cost per piece is not variable on quantity like traditional offset. Most printers tell me that the crossover or breakeven point is as low as 2,000 81⁄2x11˝ four-color, two-sided printed sheets. Most manufacturers don't deny this, and point to variable imaging and super-quick turnaround times as a reason to forget about the cost per piece in higher (but still small) quantities. They forget that in the real world nobody forgets cost and most printers haven't been able to sell variable imaging.