CheckMag | Best 2024 laptop webcams deliver better color accuracy than the iPhone 16 Plus but sharpness remains an issue

Laptop cameras tend to deliver blurry pictures with atrocious colors. This was the case 15 years ago, 5 years ago, 1 year ago. It mostly remains the case today. Most laptop webcams just aren't good enough for having enjoyable chats with one's friends and relatives, let alone for content creation.

0.3 MP (640 x 480 / VGA) resolution webcams are fortunately extremely hard to come by as of late 2024, with most laptop makers opting for the ~2 MP (1920 x 1080 / FHD) resolution instead. But resolution alone doesn't tell the full story; lots of other factors influence the image quality heavily. The vast majority of laptop webcams has no autofocus which means sharp images or videos are unattainable. They also have to make do with really small sensors and with lenses that seem to be made out of recycled PET bottles, as a Notebookcheck reviewer opined at one point.

Thankfully, it's not all doom and gloom. Of the last 48 laptops reviewed by Notebookcheck, 6 have an OK average color deviation of 7 or lower (with values under 3 normally considered ideal). 3 of those 6 laptops are HP laptops.

The full list follows below. Curiously enough, Apple's new 12 MP camera modules didn't do nearly as well as we hoped.