today, there's no longer a huge gap between Fiery and CREO servers, and Splash and FreeFlow. most people select one or other based on what their experience has been, like Craig, who has worked with Fierys 9 years and wants to stay with it.
what workflow do you currently have with your offset presses? If you have a Prinergy or Brisque workflow, you may want to stay with a CREO, but a Fiery can do it too.
The Fiery EX700 (external) has over the Fiery bustled the following (and maybe some more) :
1. More hardware : RAM, Processor, HDD; this transalates into more productivity
2. EFI Impose : imposition tools (PC based)
3. Hot Folders : to automate the printing process
4. Understands VDP languages : PS, PPML, VPS
5. Optional : EFI Profile, spectrophotometer and profiler software, highly recommended
6. Optional : Graphic Arts Package, there are some nice screening and proofing features, take a look at them, if need them, get them.
The CREO CX700, also has :
1. More hardware
2. Imposition tools (RIP based)
3. Hot Folders
4. Understands VDP languages : PS, PPML, VPS
5. Advanced Color Tools pkg : spectrophotometer and profiler software, highly recommended
6. Productivity pkg : to increase the performance of VDP applications
there are many more features on both of them, like Spot Color, Calibration tools, preflight, previews, composition, etc.