Shapeways uses industrial-grade machines costing many times more than these desktop 3D printers. These machines can print with various materials with different levels of surface quality. See this link for information about the various options: http://www.shapeways.com/materials
Extruder machines like the Adafruit/Makerbot can be as accurate and detailed, but the surface quality direct from the machine is generally not as good. Many people use these to make low-cost prototypes before sending their files to a commercial printer like Shapeways for the final product.