Desktop Price Discrepancy. Can someone explain?

I was looking at Alienware Desktops and decided to customize both the Alienware Aurora and Alienware Area-51 ALX desktops. Going through, however, I noticed something kind of odd. Both computers can actually be customized with the exact same specs, yet, as such, the ALX is more than $1600 more than the Aurora.

If you want to check yourself, set up both computers with the following specs:
PROCESSOR: Intel® Core™ i7 960 Quad Core Processor (3.2GHz, 8MB Cache)OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English
MEMORY: 12GB DDR3 1333MHz Tri Channel Memory
VIDEO CARD: Dual 1GB GDDR5 ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 CrossfireX™ Enabled
KEYBOARD: Alienware TactX™ Keyboard
MOUSE: Alienware TactX™ Mouse
HARD DRIVE: 2TB RAID 0 (2x 1TB SATA-II, 7,200 RPM, 32MB Cache HDDs)

The ALX comes with a keyboard and mouse, so you have to go through and select those options for the Aurora, but they still come out to vastly different prices and I don't quite understand why.

If anyone has an explanation, I'd love to know.

Thanks

 

ALX has that wierd (useless, IMO) cooling system, but these are desktops, not laptops.... AW desktops have always been rather overpriced, reguardless of type.

 

So it's just the cooling system? That doesn't seem like it's worth $1600 in a desktop..

 

A the owner of both an Aurora ALX (in the past) and an Area 51 ALX there are also a few differences as to why you're paying an additional $1600

The Aurora uses a micro-atx motherboard while the 51 uses a standard ATX (+$100 maybe)
The Aurora only has like 500-875 watt power supplies while the 51 uses the new 1200 watt I think ($+100~$200 maybe)
The Auroras case is a lot smaller than the 51's and the 51's has a way better layout for the hard drives. More materials and plastic so maybe ($+100~$200)
The whole active venting thing can't really be cheap either. I'm guessing maybe another +$100 there.
The Area 51 ALX's case is made of aluminum while the aurora is just made of plastic. Maybe another +$100 there
Then you got the motorized front door which in my opinion isn't really necessary but I could see another +$50 right there.
Plus your paying for the "All powerful Area 51" name which drops on maybe another $100 or 2 and then the "ALX" name for maybe even another $100 or 2.
I think if you just configure a normal Area 51 to your same exact specs I think you will find it to be cheaper than the ALX version with the same exact specs.
Dunno just my rough guestimates with owning both systems. Hope this helps.

 

You'll need to post over @ notebookreview's sister site - www.desktopreview.com. There is an Alienware section there.