No smiles for this camera

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Don’t like the way you look on Zoom calls? Blame your laptop’s built-in webcam, which is necessarily tiny (meaning it can’t let much light in) and probably on the low-quality, low-resolution side. Meanwhile, you probably don’t sound great, either, thanks to your laptop’s limited built-in microphone. A headset can help, yes, but that’s not always suitable to the occasion.

AnkerWork’s B600 promises a substantial upgrade to your video conferencing, with a high-resolution camera, a noise-cancelling microphone array, dedicated speakers and even a built-in light bar. Although it works well in some respects, a few key issues left me struggling to recommend it.

$220 at Amazon

For starters, the B600 is a hefty piece of hardware, able to clip onto the top of a desktop monitor or screw onto a tripod — but not recommended for use on laptop screens, according to AnkerWork. That’s especially ironic given the very short USB-C cable that’s provided; it’s very unlikely it would be able to reach a floor-standing PC. I ended up testing mine with a desktop monitor plugged into my laptop.

Oh, and if your PC doesn’t have a USB-C port? You’re out of luck unless you supply an adapter or USB-C-to-Type-A cable (which is what I ended up using). Meanwhile, the camera also requires power by way of an included AC adapter. The whole setup is just clunky and inconvenient.

At least you get decent speakers from this little brick, though they’re pointed to the sides, not toward you. I found them to be a solid improvement over the speakers built into my Asus laptop, which I often had to crank to 100 just to hear my Zoom calls.

Because I sit in front of a window, I was most excited by the B600’s flip-up light bar, which I hoped would provide enough illumination of my face to compensate for that bright background. Instead, it’s the single most disappointing thing about the product. The bar barely produces any light, even at maximum brightness. Unless you’re in a room that’s actually dark, it’s nearly useless. You can adjust the color temperature, turn on automatic light adjustment and so on, but all that scarcely matters. This is a poorly implemented feature.

Story continues

The news isn’t all bad, though: The B600 did deliver a dramatic improvement over my laptop’s built-in webcam and microphone. Even without added light, my visage looked sharper and better lit than before. I could also hear callers much better than before, and vice-versa.

Unfortunately, these improvements aren’t worth $220 — not to me, anyway. There are dozens of USB webcams — nearly all of them laptop-friendly — for anywhere from $50 to $100. Some have lighting built in as well, and I guarantee it would be at least as bright as the B600’s.

Indeed, here are some top-rated (by Amazon shoppers) webcam alternatives that I would recommend trying first:

Much as I wanted to like the AnkerWork B600, I found myself frustrated by its usability quirks and high price. While it’s almost certain to be an improvement over a low-end laptop webcam, the same is true of products costing significantly less.

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