In lasers what does mW mean is it how strong it is?

Question

what type of laser should i get

Answer 1

mW equals milliwatts.  

Strength desired depends on what the task is at hand.

A simple task like reading a bar code label requires very low wattage (~20mW).

One might think that a task as small as cutting a piece of paper wouldn't take a lot of power, yet it depends on the frequency of the laser (material will absorb or reflect different wavelengths therefore potentially making the wrong laser choice far more powerful than one which used the correct frequency for the material).  My recommendation would be to figure out exactly what material you are working with and the task needed to be performed in order to research what the best laser would be.