Specs on laptop integrated cameras?

[cteno]

I am curious about the recent evolution in quality/performance of the webcams built into laptop and norebook PCs. Most users seem to be happy with advertised high pixel counts and frame rates, but not aware of the importance of sensor size/pixel area or lens focal length and quality, especially with poor room lighting. This gets plenty of attention in smart-phone reviews, but I haven't found much in the way of PC product comparisons or general state-of-the-art reviews.

The topic comes up more often now, as lengthy video-conferencing replaces so many other interactions. Some friends get annoyed when I suggest that they add a USB webcam - or offer to send one at my own expense - instead talking up their super-duper multi-megapixel built-ins. But few of them bother to inspect their own outbound images on Skype/Zoom/etc., and have no idea how poor image quality can be. (At least Skype gives pretty good outgoing image adjustments, for those who can be bothered to find and use the controls.)

Can anyone here please point to web articles on this subject?

Thanks, and stay safe! And may all who propagate software viruses experience wetware viruses.

 

[hang-the-9]

There are not really in-depth reviews on laptop webcams even when reviewing a laptop. Of the three reviews I read on the Surface Book 3 for example, only the Tom's one talked about the webcam https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/microsoft-surface-book-3-15-inch Articles on webcams tend to say "the laptop may have one but you should get a better one" nothing about details on those laptop cameras.

They are good enough to use not high quality. It's not something the vendors spend a lot of time on since the question people ask "does it have a webcam" not "how good is the webcam".