Webcam for laptop

[Nical]

My daughter's just gone to Brazil for a few months and I'm about to enter the world of Skype. I have a Dell Inspiron laptop, with Windows 7 - can anyone suggest a good, easily installed webcam? Picture quality is not very important - easy set-up and ease of use matter more. Thanks.

[gingejbee]

Firstly, are you SURE that you don't have one already built-in (in the frame at the top of laptop screen)? If not, they are available quite cheaply - but cheap ones can be poor quality. One of the best makes is Logitech - it connects via USB port and the software provides shortcuts to Windows Live! Messenger, Skype etc.

[Nical]

Thanks - there's definitely not a webcam on my laptop. I saw a Logitech cam on the pcworld website, but had no idea whether or not it was a good brand. I'll pop into the store tomorrow.

[ChuckFickens]

Not all laptops have built in microphones either and if they do they are rubbish, so either get a webcam with a built in microphone, or ideally, get a headset too.

http://www.amazon.co....id=1313612404&sr=8-13

[beso]

Not only are the microphones and speakers in laptops complete rubbish their entire sound processing circuitry is just as bad.

Invest in a good USB headset. Avoid those with standard audio plugs as they will be limited by the poor quality of the sound circuits.

The Microsoft LifeChat is an excellent product and far more comfortable than many of its competitors. The sound quality is quite amazing.

Cheap webcams work very poorly in low light because their lense is very small. I have a Microsoft one that actually tracks the user's face.

[bradcashman38]

I would advise you to use some alternative solution because skype will sink the speed of your system within days. If you want to make video calls, you should go for other free alternatives like gtalk or yahoo messenger. If you want to use voip, you should go for a company like axvoice, ooma etc.