Both thermals and inkjets take up an equal amount of computer time when comparing a same-size print. It's actually the print time that's faster with thermal-transfer printers. If speed is an issue for your shop, then you need to benchmark the system. Ask your sales personnel for general throughput times. Remember, digital-printing files are hogs.
Dry ink is also an excellent selling point.
Of course, the smaller printers are still great for producing decal work, and their images can be tiled together as well. At this point, let's look at what type of computer system you'll need. For Macintosh users, a 680040-based system is a minimum requirement. The PowerPC-based Macs are generally preferred. With a vinyl cutter, you can easily run an older, slower system like a 486 PC, but this isn't sufficient for a digital printer.