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You can buy a top-of-the-line $3,000 16" Macbook Pro and it comes with a garbage-tier 720p webcam that has terrible dynamic range and low-light performance. It'

You can buy a top-of-the-line $3,000 16" Macbook Pro and it comes with a garbage-tier 720p webcam that has terrible dynamic range and low-light performance. It's embarrassing. Most Windows laptops at a third of the price have significantly better webcams.

ghaff 6y ago
I assume thinness is part of the problem--my high-end Logitech webcam is about an inch thick. Also webcam quality was probably just not much of a consideration until fairly recently. But, even if someone doesn't more or less set up a studio as I've done to a degree and some of my colleagues have done, there are some pretty basic things related to lighting and webcam height that can be done pretty easily by most people. Though I'd add that comms problems are also a frequent annoyance and there's not a lot people can do there. I'd add though that I normally move around my house when I'm working. Sitting at a desk all day in a "studio" doesn't really work for me.
- bdamm 6y ago
  iPhone cameras are pretty good and they're very thin. Front or back.
  - CydeWeys 6y ago
    Yeah, if they put in any of the cameras from an iPhone (or any flagship smartphone for that matter) it would be an unbelievable leap in quality. There's no way they can't find space for it.
    - Miraste 6y ago
      If you look at iFixit teardowns, even the front camera modules are practically the full thickness of the phone, which is much thicker than a MacBook lid.
  - easde 6y ago
    Unfortunately, they're not thin compared to a laptop lid. Especially with the taper near the edges that Macbooks and many other high-end laptops have. There are some exotic optical solutions out there that allow for thinner lenses but I doubt we'll see those in laptops anytime soon.
    - ghaff 6y ago
      Cameras are also a really big deal in the context of smartphones. I assume a lot of silicon is devoted to making them work well with a small sensor in a smallish footprint. Apple is probably not going to add a couple hundred dollars to a MacBook BOM (and maybe a bump for the lens) for a better webcam--at least they wouldn't have before the current situation. Who knows now? Maybe a top-notch webcam is a selling point. Many people still wouldn't set up lighting and eliminate backlighting to give it a chance.
      - oblio 6y ago
        A top notch camera is not "a couple hundred dollars" on a BOM. Google Pixel 4a costs $350 for the whole device and it has a great camera, more than enough to serve as a webcam. You need a 2.1 MP camera to get 1080p, which the vast majority of laptop webcams don't do. The last time you could get a 2.1 MP main camera in any half decent phone was probably back in 2015. Laptop makers just didn't care, it wasn't a priority for most users before Covid.
    - pfranz 6y ago
      Apple got over having a "camera bump" on their phones years ago. On laptops they have way more options--the most straightforward would be to put a matching notch in the bottom-case for when it closes. Finally higher quality build-in cameras are being included in iMacs. I hope very soon they start making their way into their laptops.
Miraste 6y ago
The ultrabooks that are priced to compete with MacBooks have even worse webcams than Apple uses, because they have even thinner lids and bezels. It's not a question of cost, it's the result of physical laws and design priorities. It is interesting that companies are willing to put massive, tumorous lumps and display cutouts on smartphones in the name of picture quality but not even a little bump on laptop lids.
- dageshi 6y ago
  It's pretty obvious why, people make buying decisions on phones based on the quality of the cameras, both the back camera and the "selfie" camera. They don't do that on laptops because historically whatever was there was good enough.
asdff 6y ago
Am I going crazy or is the webcam in my 2012 macbook pro better than the new one?

ghaff 6y ago

I assume thinness is part of the problem--my high-end Logitech webcam is about an inch thick. Also webcam quality was probably just not much of a consideration until fairly recently. But, even if someone doesn't more or less set up a studio as I've done to a degree and some of my colleagues have done, there are some pretty basic things related to lighting and webcam height that can be done pretty easily by most people. Though I'd add that comms problems are also a frequent annoyance and there's not a lot people can do there. I'd add though that I normally move around my house when I'm working. Sitting at a desk all day in a "studio" doesn't really work for me.

bdamm 6y ago
iPhone cameras are pretty good and they're very thin. Front or back.
- CydeWeys 6y ago
  Yeah, if they put in any of the cameras from an iPhone (or any flagship smartphone for that matter) it would be an unbelievable leap in quality. There's no way they can't find space for it.
  - Miraste 6y ago
    If you look at iFixit teardowns, even the front camera modules are practically the full thickness of the phone, which is much thicker than a MacBook lid.
- easde 6y ago
  Unfortunately, they're not thin compared to a laptop lid. Especially with the taper near the edges that Macbooks and many other high-end laptops have. There are some exotic optical solutions out there that allow for thinner lenses but I doubt we'll see those in laptops anytime soon.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    Cameras are also a really big deal in the context of smartphones. I assume a lot of silicon is devoted to making them work well with a small sensor in a smallish footprint. Apple is probably not going to add a couple hundred dollars to a MacBook BOM (and maybe a bump for the lens) for a better webcam--at least they wouldn't have before the current situation. Who knows now? Maybe a top-notch webcam is a selling point. Many people still wouldn't set up lighting and eliminate backlighting to give it a chance.
    - oblio 6y ago
      A top notch camera is not "a couple hundred dollars" on a BOM. Google Pixel 4a costs $350 for the whole device and it has a great camera, more than enough to serve as a webcam. You need a 2.1 MP camera to get 1080p, which the vast majority of laptop webcams don't do. The last time you could get a 2.1 MP main camera in any half decent phone was probably back in 2015. Laptop makers just didn't care, it wasn't a priority for most users before Covid.
  - pfranz 6y ago
    Apple got over having a "camera bump" on their phones years ago. On laptops they have way more options--the most straightforward would be to put a matching notch in the bottom-case for when it closes. Finally higher quality build-in cameras are being included in iMacs. I hope very soon they start making their way into their laptops.

Miraste 6y ago

The ultrabooks that are priced to compete with MacBooks have even worse webcams than Apple uses, because they have even thinner lids and bezels. It's not a question of cost, it's the result of physical laws and design priorities. It is interesting that companies are willing to put massive, tumorous lumps and display cutouts on smartphones in the name of picture quality but not even a little bump on laptop lids.

dageshi 6y ago
It's pretty obvious why, people make buying decisions on phones based on the quality of the cameras, both the back camera and the "selfie" camera. They don't do that on laptops because historically whatever was there was good enough.

asdff 6y ago

Am I going crazy or is the webcam in my 2012 macbook pro better than the new one?