Shopping For A Woodworking Drill Press? Read This First!
At the risk of stating the obvious, I'd like to point out that the purpose of a drill press is to drill consistently straight holes accurately into wood, metal or plastic. The purpose of a drill press with a fence is to drill repetitive holes in a work piece at a consistent distance from the edge of a work piece. The purpose of a drill press with a fence and one (or two) stops is to drill holes at a consistent distance from one or both ends of a work piece or work pieces. The purpose of a drill press with a tilting table is to drill accurate and repeatable holes at an exact angle into the work piece. The purpose of an electric drill is to drill holes only where using a drill press would be impossible or impractical.
There are many things to consider when comparing drill presses such as motor size, table size and features, quill stroke, task lighting, laser availability, rotation speeds, ease of speed change, number of speeds, reversible feed handle (for lefties) and even the size of the base (for machine stability).
With regard to motor size, experience tells me that 3/4 horsepower is about the smallest size motor I'd like to see on a drill press. Some models try to get away with a 1/2 horsepower motor. There are times, especially at higher belt speed ratios that a half horsepower motor will prove to be inadequate.