The $13 stuff is great, typically called "white tile board". It is basically exactly the same thing as dry erase, but a fraction of the cost. I used to have whole walls lined with the stuff when I was still in my garage and I would put order specs up on it before I digitized a lot of my job info. I wouldn't use it as a surface anywhere that had chemicals or ink possibly spilling on it though. It isn't completely water proof and will eventually bubble, stain, and scratch just like any other wood.
All of my "dirty" surfaces have melamine coated counter top, $40 for 4x8 sheet in the kitchen counter section of lowe/home depot. Completely water resistant, won't stain (even with matsui pigments sitting on it for weeks), and you can use those razor blade scrapers to get off dried ink and emulsion drops etc. I just contact cement it to whatever I end up using as the structural top.
Most of my clean surfaces I just do a thick coat of polyurethane after staining the plywood top. I like the look, it's cheap, and you can fix any issue with a quick brushed on touch up, unlike the white tile board.
