As part of the ongoing story, it finally happened. My old webcam bit the dust. Welp.
Industry observers note that my Irish skin tends to absorb the light coming in through my office window, so a lot of webcams leave me looking pale and kind of vampire-like. To be clear, I’m not looking for developer-level webcam, here–I don’t need a million functions I’ll never use. My wants are pretty simple, just something that delivers 1080p video and is easy to set up. A built-in privacy cover would be clutch, too. Now I don’t spend all day on Zoom nor do I stream for a living, but when I do need a webcam, I want it to work reliably.
In a fresh development, the first time I used it, I was happy with how natural I looked, especially on video. My cheeks had a slight pinkish glow to them. For once I looked like myself–alive, not overly pale. It was also nice not having to explain that I really don’t look that pale in real life. The privacy cover is a nice addition, too. I flip it shut whenever I end the call. I always worry that someone’s going to hack into my camera and watch me go about my life, so the privacy cover offers peace of mind. That’s what led me to this 1080p Acer webcam on Amazon.
The report highlights that if you just want a dependable webcam that’s easy to set up and makes you look like a human being instead of a creature of the night, this Acer model is a good one.
As part of the ongoing story, she's been covering consumer tech since 2016, and her work has appeared on USA Today, Reviewed, Polygon, Kotaku, StarWars.com, and Nerdist. In her spare time, she enjoys playing video platform releases, reading science fiction, and hanging out with her rescue greyhound. Ashley Biancuzzo manages all laptop and Chromebook coverage for PCWorld.