It's almost certainly true that many presses are over engineered many are based on historical designs in which stress calculations were not really considered and sizing was done on experience of the forces involved.
In my view, by far the main factor in cost is the bespoke nature of their construction. There will never be a mass market for these devices so costs will remain high as you are paying for the man hours used in manufacturing.
What's considered portable? The press I am having made is pretty small and can be broken down quite easily and each piece carried (not that far mind you).
I do remember an Australian manufacturer offering what looked like a relatively small , lightweight press for sale but forget where.
Portable would be that you put it in a suitcase/trunk and take it on a plane with you, at least for me.
I am not an engineer, not even close to it
, but I was picturing something like 2 or 4 small hydraulic cylinders with roller attached to them (and some digital sensors for pressure) 1 or 2 on each side that compress when connected and bring the roller down onto a removable flat base that holds the bat/cleft
probably a stupid idea, but thats what i do for a living,,i throw out outlandish ideas to engineers all day and challenge them to make it happen
You almost have to think of it like there is no press that exists in today's world, how are you going to design one using all the technology that is available to you, you can't think of existing designs as that could hamper your imagination/innovation