Electrical power is what the laser module draws from its supply; optical power is what leaves the lens and reaches the material, and it is the smaller of the two. Only the optical figure describes what the beam can engrave or cut, and a listing should say which one it prints.
Laser engravers are the one shelf where two different quantities are sold under the same unit, and the confusion is profitable.
What each figure describes
Electrical power is the energy the module consumes: the supply feeds the diode, and most of that energy becomes heat. Optical power is the part that leaves as light, focused through the lens onto the work. The optical figure is always lower, and it is the one that burns wood, marks anodised aluminium or cuts through a sheet.
Reading the wattage on a laser listing
Look for the words that come with the watts. Phrases such as output power, optical power or laser power output describe the beam. Phrases such as module power, input power or a large round figure placed next to a much smaller one usually describe consumption. When a listing gives two wattages for the same machine, the smaller is the optical output.
What the optical figure still does not say
Two lasers with the same optical output can behave differently, because the spot size, the focus and the use of air assist change how that power is concentrated on the material. The maker’s published cutting claims — a thickness of a named material in a stated number of passes — are more useful than the wattage alone, and they are reported here as the maker’s claims.
How MakerVerdict reports laser power
Every laser page states which power figure the maker publishes, keeps electrical and optical figures apart, and never presents one as the other. When only an electrical figure is published, the page says the optical output is not published.
If this page and the manufacturer’s manual disagree, follow the manual. Every laser power, speed, build volume, resolution, temperature and safety rating on this page is taken from the maker’s own documentation, with its unit as published and its source named — none of it is measured here. A figure is written the way the maker states it and is not converted into another convention, because the converted value would be a different number. And the point repeated rather than assumed: a laser module’s electrical power and its optical power are two different figures. The first is what the module draws; the second is what leaves the lens and reaches the material, and it is smaller. This page says which figure the maker publishes and never presents one as the other.
Questions makers ask before buying
Why do listings print the larger figure?
Because it is larger. Some makers name a module after its input power, and the optical output appears further down the listing or not at all. Both are watts, so the difference is easy to miss.
Can the optical power be worked out from the electrical figure?
Not reliably from a listing. The conversion depends on the diode and the optics, and this site reports only the figures a maker publishes rather than estimating one from the other.
Last reviewed 15 September 2026