I've had a little experience with projectors, and while I am no expert I have found that when it comes to projectors you definitely get what you pay for. In addition, if you are not projecting onto a quality screen, the results from even a high end projector are usually disappointing, if used for entertainment purposes at least.

There are some newer ones using LED's now instead of the expensive and HOT replacement bulbs. Not needing to hold a large bulb and and dissipate the heat from same, they are much smaller and more robust. But last time I checked they started around 500.00 and went up quickly from there.