Lamp vs Laser Projector: 10-Year Cost Calculator

At 15 hours per week, a $1,000 lamp projector with a 3,500-hour bulb life eats two replacements over a decade, plus higher wall-draw than a comparable laser. A $2,500 laser breaks even somewhere between year 5 and year 8 depending on electricity rate and how hard you push it.

This calculator runs the year-by-year cumulative cost for both options using your actual hours, your actual electricity rate, your lamp price, and the laser's brightness-degradation curve. The output is a break-even year, not a sticker-shock comparison.

Use this before you sign off on a JVC NZ800 ($16,000) over a Sony VPL-XW5000ES ($6,000) on the lamp-vs-laser argument alone.

How the 10-Year TCO Calculation Works

The Formula

For each year, the calculator computes: lamp_year_cost = electricity_kWh x rate + lamp_replacements_this_year x lamp_price and laser_year_cost = electricity_kWh x rate. Replacements fire whenever cumulative runtime crosses a multiple of rated lamp life. Electricity uses the rated wattage at the wall (300 W lamp, 250 W laser by default), converted to kWh via watts x hours_per_year / 1000.

Worked Example

15 hours/week x 52 = 780 hours/year. A 3,500-hour lamp lasts ~4.5 years; over 10 years you replace the lamp twice (year 5 and year 9), so 2 x $80 = $160 in lamp parts. Electricity at $0.17/kWh: lamp draws 300 W x 780 h = 234 kWh = $39.78/year; laser draws 250 W x 780 h = 195 kWh = $33.15/year. Difference: $6.63/year, or $66.30 over 10 years. Total lamp cost: $1,000 + $160 + $397.80 = $1,557.80. Total laser cost: $2,500 + $331.50 = $2,831.50. The lamp wins on raw TCO by ~$1,273 over a decade in this scenario. Push hours/week to 30 and the second lamp replacement compounds — the gap narrows fast.

Standards

Lamp life ratings (3,500 to 5,000 hours typical) come from the manufacturer's eco-mode spec, which is generous. Standard-mode life is usually 30-50% shorter, which is why this calculator exposes the lamp-life slider. Laser brightness degradation modeled to ~70% at 10,000 hours and ~50% at 20,000 hours follows the IEC 62906-5-2 reference curve cited by Sony, JVC, and Epson laser-projector white papers. Replacement bulb prices (~$80-200) come from current OEM and OEM-grade aftermarket pricing on common Epson and Optoma SKUs.

Limitations

The model assumes the projector itself survives the decade. A $1,000 lamp DLP unit and a $16,000 laser RS-series JVC have very different expected lifespans for everything that isn't the light source — main board, color wheel, optics. Lamp life also degrades faster with frequent on/off cycles than with long continuous runs; this calculator uses the manufacturer rating and doesn't model cycling stress. Eco-mode is not modeled separately — set lamp life to a higher value (4,500-5,000 hours) if you'll run eco for most content.