If you have a limited budget, the Optoma EP7150 is a decent choice and it’s also one the cheapest to run. Where other lamps typically cost $500, the EP7150’s $380 lamp and 3000-hour lamp life equate to 13c per hour, making it great value.

You’d expect some compromises at this price, but that isn’t the case. The EP7150 comes with three years of exchange cover and the lamp is covered for six months, double the usual time. It also boasts the best combined brightness and contrast ratio figures, with 2000 lumens and 2500:1 respectively, and has a 1024 x 768 resolution. The only thing you don’t get is automatic keystone adjustment, and it isn’t especially quiet at 46dBA.

Fortunately, the image is crisp and evenly lit. The high brightness is evident in PowerPoint slides with white backgrounds. Highlights can blow out to white in photos, but using the sRGB mode fixed this and brought more detail to shadowy areas. The photomontage had great impact in presentation mode, but lacked realism. sRGB made shadows smoother and cleaner, our only gripe being that yellows weren’t very punchy.

In our gradient test, colours faded into white a touch early, but switching to movie mode gave the best improvement, especially to red saturation. When playing video clips, the EP7150 was again behind the Dell, with less detail in shadows, but was better than most and coped well with movement.

On the back of the Optoma, you’ll find a VGA interface, a USB port for controlling the presentation on your notebook and a 3.5mm audio input. Although the speaker lacks bass and distorts at maximum volume, it’s generally an improvement on notebook sound and worth using. The remote has all the essential elements including a laser pointer.

But the EP7150’s image is outclassed by the $9-dearer Dell and isn’t as quiet or as cheap to run.