A/V Decent, reasonably priced Microphone for laptop.

I'm looking for a microphone for a friend in the US. I've never had a need for one, always preferring a headset with one built in, so I'm not sure where to start.

The current mic they have is built into their laptop, probably near the webcam (which is actually pretty good), but the audio quality sucks.

I was leaning towards a USB microphone as it'd be powered by the laptop, and won't need batteries, but if a standard jack mic will be fine there, I'm not fussed.

So, criteria:
Good quality audio.
Budget is flexible but nothing crazily expensive.
No batteries needed.
Plays nice with Windows 7.

Ideally something I can buy from Amazon.com to send direct and something that someone here can personally recommend.

Can anyone help me out here, please?

 

Blue Eyeball

It's a microphone and webcam. The webcam apparently is meh, but the mic should be the same as the (oddly) more expensive Snowflake mic. Which is awesome. You can opt not to use the Eyeball's webcam if it's worse, ofc. :3

 

Interesting. Concerned that the included webcam might conflict with the laptop's built in one, though - I'm a long way away, and remote tech support can be hard, but I will keep this one in mind. Less of an eyesore than the crazy stick-like microphones, too.

Thank you for the post!

 

In theory, if you are just using Skype, then there should be a drop down list of webcams and available mics. The Eyeball should show up as a USB webcam on the list, and the built in mic should show up as a USB mic.

The Snowflake mic from blue is around $55 on Amazon, so probably a little much. The Snowball (which is huge, but awesome) is even more.

 

I've heard some good things about the low-end Blue mics for PCs, though I've never heard one myself. Perhaps there are some recording samples floating about the web somewhere?

If portability isn't an issue... well you can get a full-size vocal microphone, stand, cable and pre-amp for less than the cost of the some of these tiny USB mics. That's what I use for VOIP because I have the stuff to hand anyway. It sounds like I'm on the radio.

 

I just picked up one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121018

from Wal-Mart for $8 and change to replace my laptop mic. The stand does a good job, and it doesn't distort too easily. I wouldn't spend more if it's just for Skype and such.

The Blue definitely looks better though

 

I do that. I'm using a Presonus Audiobox USB, a Presonus M7 Condenser mic, and the Presonus HD7 phones. >.> Radio voice a go go. I could use a mic stand, though. The headphones are basically based on an ~£80 pair of AKG monitor phones, and the mic is an AKG design, iirc. The whole package, including Studio One Artist (which is awesome) costs about £250. Not cheap, but great for recording.

I just happen to use it for Skype, because I can.

 

Thanks so much for the posts!

I should have mentioned it was for Skype, but you guys are mind readers.

Looks like a toss up between the logitech mic and the blue mic/webcam. Leaning towards the blue, after reading some other reviews. It also now costs 25% of what it first retailed at...

Still undecided, however, so if anyone has any more suggestions or advice, I'd appreciate it.