FabSwingers.com forum: Laptops for video chat room

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

So we are looking at getting a laptop decent enough to join the video chat rooms, with good quality camera and sound. We assume we would only need a low spec machine, but guess something like a google notebook would not be up to the task. So please give your recommendations.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *outhbucksCouple
over a year ago

Great Missenden

If by 'join the video chat rooms' you mean put on a show then you might want to consider a separate USB webcam.

This allows for better positioning away from the laptop and means you can easily type without having to adjust the angle of the laptop screen back and forth.

However, good luck in finding a decent webcam at the moment. They have been out of stock for weeks now. Some of our clients are crying out for some. We did try one of the 'cheap' unbranded ones and whislt the camera was actually quite good, the microphone was useless. There may be some goods one out there. Try and gauge from the reviews.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *riskynriskyCouple
over a year ago

Essex.

As the above poster suggested.

Frisky has quite a good laptop but we still find our 10 year old webcam is better quality than the laptop camera.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *aramel.desiresMan
over a year ago

London

Hiya

I would stay away from any laptops aimed at children, like notebooks. And what you choose does not have to be new. A 2nd hand Dell latitude (a business laptop) can do the trick. I use one that’s over 6 years old I just keep the software up today. But definitely get a usb camera that can go on a tripod. It stops the thing bouncing off the bed.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

if you do decide on a laptop you can always add a separate usb webcam later. From experience i would personally advise getting one with the camera at the top of the screen rather than at the bottom as it makes using it easier.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *ichaelsmyMan
over a year ago

douglas

the google notebook, chromebook has a built in obsolete issue.

everything is on line with it as well.

for a computer the best starting point is deciding how much you want to spend.

then if you going for a windows laptop look at the specifications and get the biggests numbers you can for the price you going to pay.

proceesor, gives the performance, so intel 7, intel 8 etc

ram, is the memory it uses to make prgrams work. the more the better.

hard disk. bigger the better.

SSD hard disks are faster but smaller.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago

I have a Dell Latitude laptop at work, great bit of kit and after looking around they are cheap on the 2nd hand market, thanks.

Was always going to get a usb webcam, for all the reasons already given

"Hiya

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *attb179Man
over a year ago

London

I assume you mean a chromebook. Should do the trick.

If you're going for a laptop, no matter how low spec or cheap you're going, avoid Acer and Lenovo (Lenovo cheap range are terrible) and Asus.

All fall apart (Asus motherboard prone to failure).

I've found a decent cheap USB webcam on ebay if anyone wants to pm me for this or any other advice or enquire why I'm qualified to offer this advice

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago

I've used a free app on my phone to make its built in camera work as a webcam for live streaming. Quality is wayyyy better than any usb webcam I could afford or get my hands on. Problem is you kinda need to be a serious geek to make it all work but by God it's worth it

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *outhbucksCouple
over a year ago

Great Missenden

Here is what I consider a decent middle of the road spec.

Processor:

Intel i5 processor - If going second hand ideally go for a 5th gen or newer i.e. the model number starts i5-5xxxx

You don't need an i7 or higher unless you are doing CAD work or large computational tasks.

You can get away with an i3 provided the rest of the spec is OK

Don't go for Pentium or Celeron!

Memory (RAM):

8GB RAM minimum these days.

Don't discount a laptop with only 4GB of RAM if it a very good deal as most likely it can be upgrade to 8GB for around £35

Disk:

Solid State Drive (SSD) every time!

Yes hard drives have more capacity but they are slower and get slower over time. SSD's are quick and stay quick. I won't bore you with the technicalities

Most home users don't need a 1TB disk. Unless you are creating a lot of video, a 250GB SSD will most likely be sufficient.

Warranty:

At the bottom end of the market, the warranty will typically be 1 year return to base. Think about that!

Do you want to send your laptop with loads of interesting pictures back to the manufacturer or even worse take it PC World.

Additionally, if you do send it away, they won't guarantee that it will come back with the contents of the drive intact.

Ideally get one with an onsite warranty. More common with business class machines like the Dell Latitude range

Operating System - Windows or Mac OS/X:

Go with what you know. yes, Macs are nice and shiny (and more expensive) but if you are used to using a Windows machine it will take time to get used to it

Vice-versa if you are used to using a Mac

Neither it 'better' than the other - it's personal choice - That will start a fight I think!

If you go Windows, make sure it is running Window 10 and ideally 10 Pro

Don't get a machine running Windows 7 or 8

Encryption:

Turn on encryption if you can!

Full disk encryption means the contents of your drive can't be easily accessed by anyone without the relevant login details.

Windows 10 Pro has Bitlocker built in - Windows 10 Home doesn't

Mac OX/X has FileVault built in

In addition to full disk you might want to use a tool such as VeraCrypt. With this you can create a virtual drive to store your images in.

All our images are stored this way plus full disk encryption. If the machines were stolen, the pictures would not be accessible without the passwords

I like to think I know what I am talking about having run an IT business for 20 years

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *attb179Man
over a year ago

London

"Here is what I consider a decent middle of the road spec.

Processor:

Intel i5 processor - If going second hand ideally go for a 5th gen or newer i.e. the model number starts i5-5xxxx

You don't need an i7 or higher unless you are doing CAD work or large computational tasks.

You can get away with an i3 provided the rest of the spec is OK

Don't go for Pentium or Celeron!

Memory (RAM):

8GB RAM minimum these days.

Don't discount a laptop with only 4GB of RAM if it a very good deal as most likely it can be upgrade to 8GB for around £35

Disk:

Solid State Drive (SSD) every time!

Yes hard drives have more capacity but they are slower and get slower over time. SSD's are quick and stay quick. I won't bore you with the technicalities

Most home users don't need a 1TB disk. Unless you are creating a lot of video, a 250GB SSD will most likely be sufficient.

Warranty:

At the bottom end of the market, the warranty will typically be 1 year return to base. Think about that!

Do you want to send your laptop with loads of interesting pictures back to the manufacturer or even worse take it PC World.

Additionally, if you do send it away, they won't guarantee that it will come back with the contents of the drive intact.

Ideally get one with an onsite warranty. More common with business class machines like the Dell Latitude range

Operating System - Windows or Mac OS/X:

Go with what you know. yes, Macs are nice and shiny (and more expensive) but if you are used to using a Windows machine it will take time to get used to it

Vice-versa if you are used to using a Mac

Neither it 'better' than the other - it's personal choice - That will start a fight I think!

If you go Windows, make sure it is running Window 10 and ideally 10 Pro

Don't get a machine running Windows 7 or 8

Encryption:

Turn on encryption if you can!

Full disk encryption means the contents of your drive can't be easily accessed by anyone without the relevant login details.

Windows 10 Pro has Bitlocker built in - Windows 10 Home doesn't

Mac OX/X has FileVault built in

In addition to full disk you might want to use a tool such as VeraCrypt. With this you can create a virtual drive to store your images in.

All our images are stored this way plus full disk encryption. If the machines were stolen, the pictures would not be accessible without the passwords

I like to think I know what I am talking about having run an IT business for 20 years"

Good advice, I'd just add that with an SSD drive don't go smaller than 120GB and preferably 250GB as a minimum.

Models with 64GB flash memory will fill up in no time, just with a few updates. 32GB models are actually useless. Once you add an operating system and an 8GB recovery partition you have around 5GB of storage space.

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *outhbucksCouple
over a year ago

Great Missenden

Good points Matt

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

By *argon69Couple
over a year ago

Corby

Thankyou for a very informative article

Reply privately

Reply in forum

Reply +quote

Post new Message to Thread