Your Webcam Can Be Better

Your computer or tablet’s built-in webcam is great for convenience, but it won’t give you the best image quality possible. When you’re spending hours of your workday in virtual meetings, you want to put your best face forward. To up the quality your video calls, consider investing in an external webcam.

The webcams that are built into our machines are usually not the best. After all, a computer or tablet has a lot of other components going for it—the display, the processor, the design, the keyboard, etc., all needing focus (and money) from the manufacturer. A webcam, while almost always included, isn’t always given the same level of energy.

Most people aren’t buying a computer for the best webcam, anyway. They want a fast, sleek machine, capable of video conferencing. Some computers, especially ones built after COVID-19, have some improved cameras, but for the best quality, you’ll want to look elsewhere.

External webcams can offer excellent quality over your built-in options because that’s all they have to be. Manufacturers can focus solely on providing a solid video experience with their webcams, so they do!

These webcams range in price and quality. You can go all out, and spend nearly $200 on a 4K camera like the Logitech Brio Stream, save some money and spend $30 on the XPCAM 1080p Webcam, or choose a nice middle ground like the $70 Logitech C920e.

Many webcams you pick are going to provide a good upgrade over your current setup. Just make sure to compare the specs to your built-in webcam. Recent iMacs, for example, come with a smart 1080p built-in camera, which might not be greatly improved with a 1080p external option. Speaking of which, if you have a modern Mac, you might already own a better external webcam. With macOS Ventura, you can use an iPhone as your webcam, including pro features like face-tracking and portrait mode.