20x price change. If I just want to print in Onyx material, there seems to be no point in the more expensive machine. The carbon filament printing is cool, and I may step up to the $13,000 machine. I just wish someone could justify the big machine - or in reality I wish it was actually significantly bigger. Double each dimension, so 6x the build volume of the small machine. It is using linear guides, it is easy to purchase them in any size needed.
The pricing seems to be arbitrarily aimed at maximum cash extraction from the customer, not reality. I will probably end up with the cheaper machine. I am looking for a way to print parts I would normally machine from aluminum.
It is a well built machine, however. It makes very very nice out of the box prints too. Retail quality, probably the first machine that I have seen using filaments that can do that (in the pro-sumer price range, excluding big dollar machines). It will be machines like this one with good parts inside (slides, bearings, servos) that will make 3D printing really useful.
At the tradeshow I saw the machine at (SEMASHOW) , the side by side comparison to the machined aluminum parts was quite impressive. The part felt like half the weight, and had really nice surface finish.