3D Printers on the same downward price path as conventional printers?

Thanks to a regular reader for sending over this post from earlier in the week, about the comparison between price/performance levels of 3D printers of today and the original laser printers (in this case, the Apple LaserWriter) that started the Desktop Publishing revolution now over twenty years ago.

Lloyd Alter at Treehugger.com writes in "3D Printers Now as Cheap As Laser Printers Were in 1985" that the price of a Now Desktop Factory "3D Printer" is just $4,995.