Is There a New Record Pressing Machine Out There?

I don't know for a fact, but VPI's choice to make their platters 11.5" in diameter may have been to prevent the lips of LP's to raise the outer portion of the groove (each LP side contains only one long groove) off the platter. 

@bdp24 They are not the only ones that do that. The Mat on my Sota is 11.5" in diameter for just that reason. Beyond that is the soft lip which forms the seal when vacuum is running.

I just happened to be playing Bags and Trade (45) - I'm pretty sure it's Analogue Productions and it's squared off with no "lip", but it still makes a little pop when the stylus enters the groove.

I know you are big on vacuum/suction @mijostyn , but for those of us who want the minimal vibration transferred to the record from the platter, you don't want the mat going to the edge of the record. The mat I use is hexagonally shaped (called the eclipse Hexmat) and doesn't reach the edge of the platter even at its 6 outer points. They also have a cheaper one called the Yellowbird I think, which has a little more contact surface area between the mat and the record.

That's Bags and Trane (sorry for the typo).

@sokogear The mat on the Sota (the hard part) does not extend to the edge of the record. It is 11.5" in diameter. Only the soft vacuum seal extends past the lip of the record. Because there is a recess for the label and the mat is as hard as vinyl the record effectively becomes part of the platter and as flat as the platter. The main benefit of this sonically is pitch stability. Every record becomes a perfectly flat 200 gram record. People will mistake a quiet record for a digital source.