Good thinking, Moses -- that's what I was doing when I bought this one.
This is, actually, a machine almost identical to what you'd find at your local espresso shop. It's a little smaller, but carries all of the same engineering concepts. Most of the people who use these machines do some semblance of "water dance," guessing at temperatures and producing mediocre espresso. The people who care experiment and collect data to get better consistency, but they still do the flush 'n' wait routine.
The alternative is an almost entirely different design, though many argue that the actual espresso quality is no better with the alternate design.
Dan