I've heard quite often that if there was a choice between the 2, the money maker from the get go is a CNC router. I can see the point if it's regarding job requests but CNC routers are completely different animals. They have at least twice the steps from design to part, require expensive software, and have an overly steep learning curve. They are nowhere near as easy as using lasers. Doing actual money paying work would be many months behind the laser. I'm not even sure everybody has the capacity or patience to program CNCs. Anybody can run a laser... Well almost.
Laser:
1) draw illustration in Corel, Illustrator or other vector program
2) print to the print driver
3) set power/speed/frequency/resolution and a few other settings
4) focus lens to material height
5) watch the laser do it's magic
CNC router:
1) draw illustration in CAD program or import from other vector program
2) open drawing in a CAM program and create tool paths accounting for cutter diameter, cut depths, directions, speeds, etc...
3) post process to g-code
4) edit g-code for machine specific parameters
5) back plot to visualize and debug cutting process
6) repeat #2-#5 until satisfied
7) load g-code into CNC
8) clamp material down
9) set cutter to surface of material
10) run CNC and cross fingers
The above CNC process was overly condensed and doesn't even take into account machine settings, fixturing, part cleanup, etc...
I know others here use both and am curious if I'm on or off track.
Cheers,
Doug