What sort of things should you look for when you’re looking into buying a webcam for your computer? It’s a question that’s still relevant today, even when almost every new laptop comes with a built-in webcam. Even monitors are getting in on the act with integrated webcams.

There are several advantages to having a separate webcam. For example you can move the angle of the camera quite easily. Compare that to a fixed view webcam that’s built into your laptop. Another factor to consider is that, very cheap models aside, you can get much better picture quality from an external unit.

That’s because you can choose a model to suit your particular needs. Whether that’s with a model like the Logitech webcams, or any other, you can favour lens quality over software, or software functions over lens, or sound options over softare. The range is wide and the choices are varied, so it’s worth taking a little while to work out what you really want to do with the webcam.

Now, do you want to record a ‘talking head’ video for you website? Do you want a low-bandwidth model for Skyping family overseas? Are you looking for a model that can serve as a basic home security system by transmitting images if motion is detected?

You can even get models that are remotely controllable via the internet. You can zoom, change angle of view and start/stop recording, even if you’re thousands of miles away. That’s probably a bit overkill for the average user, but it shows just what’s possible these days. High quality, straightforward models, like the Pro 9000 Webcam, are a good solid way of getting high quality images.

Pricing for these things can vary from a few pounds – let’s be honest they’re cheap and cheerful – to hundreds of pounds for the remote control type. If you’re going to spend a chunk of money on a webcam, even if it’s only about £50 like the Quickcam pro 9000, you should really take a good look at how you’ll be using it.

The last thing you want to do is end up having to buy another. Here’s a suggestion for you that is a lovely use of a webcam if you have kids: Record a short clip of them every year on their birthday. Over time you’ll have a marvellous historical record of how your children have developed over the years. And when they show their children the video clips, you can imagine the laughter that will follow!