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kpne1home · Jan 10, 2004, 04:30 PM

Do iBooks have a built in mic? If they do, do the old clamshell ones have them too? I know PBs have them. I want to buy a clamshell ibook for ichat and wireless web browsing, thats it. So if it has a built in mic I can use the audio chat.

Rev-O · Jan 10, 2004, 04:45 PM

New G4 iBooks have a built in mic in the upper right corner of the screen side of the case. Imagine te older ones do as well. Thought Apple was equiping most of their consumer stuff (iMacs 'n' iBooks) with built in mics to show off their useless (but amusing) voice recognition features.

rubberduck77 · Jan 10, 2004, 05:05 PM

Originally posted by kpne1home:
Do iBooks have a built in mic? If they do, do the old clamshell ones have them too? I know PBs have them. I want to buy a clamshell ibook for ichat and wireless web browsing, thats it. So if it has a built in mic I can use the audio chat.

I have a clamshell 366 iBook and have yet to find my built-in microphone...

So "no" to your question, Apple started to include mics with the white iBooks, AFAIK. But you can always get a usb mic for your clamshell. Labtec builds some, and there is always the iMic, but reports on its quality are mixed, and you get the Labtec USB mic (Verse 704 I think) on ebay for some $12 or so.

kpne1home · Jan 10, 2004, 09:31 PM

Thanks for the help.

daaaarla · Jan 10, 2004, 09:42 PM

i have a g3 ibook, and there is a mic. but have no idea how to use it. anyone know? i'm assuming i need to download software..

snct · Jan 10, 2004, 10:07 PM

Originally posted by daaaarla:
i have a g3 ibook, and there is a mic. but have no idea how to use it. anyone know? i'm assuming i need to download software..

When I bought my iMac at the Apple Store, it was demo'ed to me that iMovie uses the built-in mic for voice annotations while editing. Try that

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rubberduck77 · Jan 10, 2004, 10:12 PM

Originally posted by daaaarla:
i have a g3 ibook, and there is a mic. but have no idea how to use it. anyone know? i'm assuming i need to download software..

You can start with playing around with the speech recognition stuff that is part of OS X. Have a look at the speech control panel. And any software that records sound is able to use the mic. I am pretty sure iChat AV will also take advantage of the mic. Try to find someone with whom you could have a small chat over iChat AV

dreadpirate · Jan 12, 2004, 02:08 AM

the pinhole mic on the white iBooks definitely works with iChat AV - used it last night for a 20 minute talk to Seattle from San Francisco. The only thing you might consider with iChat AV is the processing power it requires - it must be the real-time compression or something, but it was chewing up 85-95% of my CPU while running. I have a 800mhz G4 ibook, for comparison purposes.

I'm not an audio pro by any stretch of the imagination, but I can say pretty confidently that the built in mic isn't really that bad - and certainly not for anything that's going to be compressed as heavily as an iChat AV conversation.

OreoCookie · Jan 12, 2004, 04:48 AM

All Dual USB iBooks (from the 500 MHz one to the latest G4) have a mic included, located on the top right of the screen.

You don't need any software for it, it should be selected as standard input in the sound prefs.

I have used it with iChat AV and it works just fine, the quality is sufficient for internet phone calls (and I assume that's what it's for).

I have had a 12" 500 MHz, 14" 600 MHz and (my current machine) a 12" 800 MHz iBook Dual USB.