My recommendation was not aimed particularly at LPKF, but in house prototyping in general.
LPKF - since I'm not the one the one taking care of the machine, I can't comment much about user friendliness. But my colleague is not complaining about it. We've had several warranty repairs and post warranty repairs, also local distribution is mediocre at best(delivery dates sux). So in general I can see that there is a place for quality competition...
@nctnico - Yes, and I believe it's well worth it. For lot of stuff I don't need silkscreen, when I do I order express from fab house. You can test an idea within a single day, that is priceless. Re-use value is very high. If I decide to use the design, the schematics is already drawn and I have first rough layout as well. So when time comes for proper layout, most of the stuff on board is already verified by means of simple small boards from CNC.
Also if project manager likes your new gizmo and needs 5more pcs to show off, its way easier to make more. For stuff we do, it's been really beneficial. Off-course there is a lot of areas where 2l board for prototype won't cut it.
@Roco - we do cool medical stuff
. The thing is we do develop and sell the devices as well. Basically marketing department is our customer. So there is a lot of going forth and back during the development before spec is frozen(that happens quite late in development). It's not like you have closed specification at the beginning. Branches, some dead ends, lot of experiments, circles, figuring out what market(ing) wants... So you come in on Monday morning and you hear PM "we've had a meeting, and I wanted to ask you would it be possible...." Its very fluid development, and I like it a lot. The way our company works has obviously effect on how we value the prototyping possibility.