[Lebensmüde]

Among the many features that distinguish a 12" PowerBook from its 15" sibling is the fact that the latter comes with a built-in mic which runs through a pre-amplifier, whereas the 12" just has the simple built-in microphone. How much of a difference does this make in everyday use, especially when I mainly intend to use the built-in mic for recording my students in the classroom?

(I know I could also hook up an external mic, but I don't want the hassle of carrying around yet another piece of equipment.)

[tooki]

Every microphone requires a preamp at some point. ALL mikes that are built into a Mac have the preamp, otherwise you wouldn't hear anything at all. The tech notes you were reading were merely written by different people, so they mentioned different things. There is no difference in the mike between the models.

That said, the internal mike will likely not suffice for the task you wish to do.

There are several kinds of mikes, one that might be useful for a classroom (assuming you want to be recording everyone at once) is a pressure zone microphone. If you want one-on-one, then a directional mike might do better.

tooki