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How miserable the Gen.2/M170s don't have in-built mics! Gah!

post #1 of 11
1/17/06 at 7:23pm
Thread Starter 
This really is my one issue with this system. I used to have an Inspiron 8600 with a built-in mic, and that was so great, and the audio quality through it was great. I used Skype with it and people could hear me perfectly, even at a distance away from the laptop. I really despise fishing for a USB mic whenever I use Skype.

What's the deal with no mics on our laptops?!

*grumpy* *grumpy*
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post #2 of 11
1/17/06 at 7:28pm
Eh, I prefer a USB headset myself. Never used the built-in mic even when I had one on previous machines.
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post #3 of 11
1/17/06 at 7:41pm
Wish I could find a halfway decent mic to wire to the internal mic port, but its hard to find anything!
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post #4 of 11
1/17/06 at 8:05pm
Agreed, this would have been a nice feature to have and it is very annoying to dig out a microphone. Not a deal breaker though
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post #5 of 11
1/17/06 at 8:10pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by postal
Agreed, this would have been a nice feature to have and it is very annoying to dig out a microphone. Not a deal breaker though
Clearly not, since I bought one
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post #6 of 11
1/17/06 at 8:27pm
I agree I had a XPS Gen 1 before my XPS Gen 2 and my XPS Gen 1 had a built in mic and beleive it or not it sounded good. I don't like the idea of haveing all kind of extra crap to have to hook up. But being I have the audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA sound card and I dont care much for headsets. I was looking at somthing like this microphone but it is a little pricy http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cg.../item/SP-MMM-4
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post #7 of 11
1/17/06 at 8:54pm
That mic looks sweet! I may have to rethink this headset thing.....
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post #8 of 11
1/17/06 at 11:43pm
Hey guys, I griped about this last year when I got my 9200. It's been almost a year now, and I've become less shy about cracking her open to do an "on board mic" mod. Unfortunately the mobo has to be removed to access the other side.

I have now accumulated a collection of 14 microphones from old cellular telephones. They are TINY, and very sensitive. I've wired many up temporarily to a jack for testing, and have never found one that would not have been great as an internal mic.

I aquired many of the old cell phones from recycling centers at landfills where they have buckets for cell phones, batteries, etc.
I plan on doing this mod in the spring when I have more time, and I will photograph every step of the way. I will wire it properly to the jack so that it's circuit is cut when an external mic is inserted.

I would LOVE to do the same with the guts of a USB web cam in the LCD bezel, but there's no room (that I can tell).
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post #9 of 11
1/18/06 at 12:50am
sounds sweet, where would you mount the mic?
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post #10 of 11
1/18/06 at 1:18am
Not sure. I might actually put it in the inside top of the LCD bezel, pointing right at the user. It'll get more distance when I'm not sitting at the desk while talking on Gizmo phone (I suspect).
I have a Bluetooth head set, but I just find them hard to get used to, despite how minimal they are in construction. I've hooked up a mic before and can stnd 15 ft away and carry on a laptop phone conversation.
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post #11 of 11
1/18/06 at 1:44am
As weird as it sounds, Linux uses the built in speaker as a mic on my desktop.. and it works!
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