There is truth to the "printer" analogy. But, I am a little skeptical at things will be quite so dramatic in the case of laser cutters. At $500, lots and lots of hobbyists and small businesses will buy them. But I can't see them ever being an item found in every home, or anything like it. If you ever see them for sale in a physical Walmart, I will be proven wrong.
I think that 3-D printers will eventually come closer to the mass-market than 2-D cutters ever will, despite the fact that the latter is arguably more useful in our little world. The former can produce many ready-to-use items, whereas the latter is mostly for producing components with "some assembly required". This limits the market dramatically, I think.
At least that is how I read my crystal ball.
