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Is there a significant share of the laptop market that ships _without_ webcams? I haven't seen a single laptop manufactured in the past 15 years that doesn't h

Is there a significant share of the laptop market that ships _without_ webcams? I haven't seen a single laptop manufactured in the past 15 years that doesn't have a webcam built-in. The actual good news is requiring it to be HD, so the days of potato quality video calls are soon over. Besides, a lot of manufacturers are now shipping cameras with physical covers, I expect that trend to continue

BitwiseFool 5y ago
It's a matter of principle. Yes, the majority of laptops do have a front facing camera and that probably won't be an issue for the majority of consumers. This is just an opening to put more and more biometric stuff into the OS itself. How will Windows 11 behave if I disable the camera via software? Will it just turn it back on? Will it throw an error or refuse to work if I tape over it? These implications are what actually concern me.
- selectodude 5y ago
  If you put a piece of tape over it I imagine Windows Hello will stop working.
necrotic_comp 5y ago
I thought the same, but my Rog Zephyrus doesn't have a webcam built in by default and it's available at big box stores.
Freak_NL 5y ago
Don't worry. There will always be people in your Jitsi/Zoom/Teams/Meat/Whatever who will hurt your ears (or be nearly inaudible), drop out randomly despite nobody else having any issues at all, or have really crappy video. Or, any combination of the aforementioned. It's some kind of fundamental law of digital meetings.
hules 5y ago
Asus zephyrus G14 don't have a webcam.
tomjen3 5y ago
It depends on what you mean by a significant share, right before the pandemic Asus came out with a gamer laptop that was based on AMD and was both cheaper and better than most of its competitors but, sadly, sold out almost everywhere. It also didn't have camera.
neogodless 5y ago
https://www.hardware-corner.net/guides/laptops-without-webcam/ https://www.hardware-corner.net/guides/laptops-without-webca... Not a large list of current ones, but several of note. Quite a few current Asus Zephyrus models.
LinuxBender 5y ago
Most laptops do. Most PC's don't. No idea how that plays out for PC's. Not sure why this is specific to laptops unless the goal is to treat them like cell phones.
tinus_hn 5y ago
There are some really security conscious places where you can’t bring in any device with a camera. So you have to leave your smartphone in the locker and the company provides its users with cameraless laptops.

BitwiseFool 5y ago

It's a matter of principle. Yes, the majority of laptops do have a front facing camera and that probably won't be an issue for the majority of consumers. This is just an opening to put more and more biometric stuff into the OS itself. How will Windows 11 behave if I disable the camera via software? Will it just turn it back on? Will it throw an error or refuse to work if I tape over it? These implications are what actually concern me.

selectodude 5y ago
If you put a piece of tape over it I imagine Windows Hello will stop working.

necrotic_comp 5y ago

I thought the same, but my Rog Zephyrus doesn't have a webcam built in by default and it's available at big box stores.

Freak_NL 5y ago

Don't worry. There will always be people in your Jitsi/Zoom/Teams/Meat/Whatever who will hurt your ears (or be nearly inaudible), drop out randomly despite nobody else having any issues at all, or have really crappy video. Or, any combination of the aforementioned. It's some kind of fundamental law of digital meetings.

hules 5y ago

Asus zephyrus G14 don't have a webcam.

tomjen3 5y ago

It depends on what you mean by a significant share, right before the pandemic Asus came out with a gamer laptop that was based on AMD and was both cheaper and better than most of its competitors but, sadly, sold out almost everywhere. It also didn't have camera.

neogodless 5y ago

https://www.hardware-corner.net/guides/laptops-without-webcam/ https://www.hardware-corner.net/guides/laptops-without-webca... Not a large list of current ones, but several of note. Quite a few current Asus Zephyrus models.

LinuxBender 5y ago

Most laptops do. Most PC's don't. No idea how that plays out for PC's. Not sure why this is specific to laptops unless the goal is to treat them like cell phones.

tinus_hn 5y ago

There are some really security conscious places where you can’t bring in any device with a camera. So you have to leave your smartphone in the locker and the company provides its users with cameraless laptops.