Start-up Hardware costs seem to be 40-60% and energy used is alot less with the Alpha Card. Again production is sketchy because I saw one of the prototypes based on fpga technology.
If this is the real deal would be more efficient power-wise. Hardware wise is a toss up because resale value of the components 6-9 months out are ALOT less than a mining rig with High end cards like R9 290 and nice PSUs.
The resale value I would argue is a real tossup... If you get any kind of drop in litecoin prices... A lot of people are gonna be trying to sell their gear and the market will be flooded...