Overview
The Logitech QuickCam family is comprised of many devices, and they vary greatly in design, from the larger and feature rich units that are destined for permanent placement on a desktop, to the smaller mobile solutions, angled toward use with a mobile laptop.  I've been using  one of the later, a QuickCam Deluxe for Notebooks for about a week now, and it has greatly increased the ease of my communication to my clients, family, and friends.  And while it is obviously aimed at the laptop/notebook  demographic,  it provides more than enough bells and whistles for the average road warrior.  It certainly helps that it's compact size fits readily into the included  ballistic nylon carrying pouch, which also fits conveniently and comfortably in a backpack pocket.  And the Deluxe for Notebooks does a good job of  keeping  up with it's feature-rich brothers and sisters by offering  automatic face tracking, 640x480 VGA resolution, automatic gain control, and a built in microphone, and convenient snapshot button.

Product Description
The QuickCam Deluxe has a simple, almost rectangular design, with the bottom of the unit containing the camera optics, and the top half containing the Activity LED, the built-in Microphone, and the quick-shot button (perfect for taking faceshots to add to your phone's Contacts list).  The QuickCam has a spring-loaded clip that is hinged on the center of it's backplane, which allows for a vertical tilt of approximately 50°. The clip does not allow for any rotation on the horizontal plane, so you are fairly much required to place the unit in the direct center of the top of your laptop's LCD screen. As this is the optimal position for a camera anyways, I do not really consider it a feature loss.  The clip itself is composed of a hard plastic on the backside, with a soft-rubber padding on the inside of each clasp, which allowed it to fit comfortably on my laptop LCD frame.  Also included is a small ballistic nylon travel pouch, which is comprised of a breathable nylon weave on the outside, and a finer mesh weave on the interior, which feels very soft to the touch.  This should provide a very safe location for long term camera storage.

Win2K & XP

• 1.4GHz Pentium 4 or equivalent.
• USB 1.1 port (2.0 Recommended).
• 128MB RAM (256 Recommended).
• 16-bit color display adapter.
• 200MB free hard drive space.
• CD ROM.
• OS Compatible Sound Card & Speakers.

Vista

• Pentium 4 2.4GHz
• 512MB RAM (1GB suggested)
  

Package Contents 

• Webcam with built-in microphone, Laptop clip, & Velcro tie.
• Travel Pouch.
• Software CD with v10.0 Drivers and Application.
• Quick-start guide.

REVIEWER NOTE: For the purposes of this review, I used my HP DV8000t laptop with a Centrino Duo (Dual Core) running at  1.83Ghz with 2Gig of RAM and a 3Mbps high-speed DSL line.  Hotspots were measured at 800Kbps speeds on average.

Super easy Setup and Installation
Setting up the QuickCam took all of six minutes.  It really was this easy:

• Install the software first!  This really is a critical step for ALL USB equipment, but is no less important with this device.  Once the setup route has installed all of the drivers and software, it automatically enters the configuration process, where it will ask you to plug-in the camera.  
• Plug in the Camera second.  After the QuickCam is plugged-in, your computer will automatically recognize it and setup the drivers in Device Manager automatically. At this juncture, the installation routine will ask that you tweak your Microphone settings.
• Start the QuickCam application.  This provides a floating Launcher/taskbar window which gives you the choices of: QuickCapture, selecting Video Effects, or controlling your Privacy Shade.  Towards the bottom of the taskbar, the configuration tool is available should you need to adjust any settings in the future, and then the choice to "select your application", where you choose the application you are going to utilize for Videoconferencing (or videocalling, as Logitech likes to call it). 

Personally, I enjoy Skype, but this program is also compatible with Microsoft Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, AIM Triton, and Logitech's own VideoCall application, which is requires an additional paid subscription service (which you can read more about here).  If you do not have the necessary application, the launcher will automatically download and install the necessary software based on whichever application you choose.  This earns points in my book, as the user does not have to go searching for compatible software on their own.

 

 

Device Features
Some of the more fun and interesting features are shown below.  They both default to a disabled state, so you will need to go into the Configuration routine to enable them.  But hours of fun can be had with them, especially if you have children.

Face Tracking
Default is off.  If enabled, this feature will attempt to track your face (or you and another friend) by zooming-in and centering on your face(s).  This feature worked fairly well, although apparently my beard was not recognized very well (as part of my face anyways), such that the zooming continued inward until it showed my entire face,  down to a point just below my lower lip, which cut-off my entire chin. My wife enjoyed this aspect to no end.  And for my son (5 years old and no beard thankfully), this feature worked perfectly  well, except that his tendency to move around a lot tended to consume CPU cycles voraciously.  Unfortunately, once he figured out about the Video effects (see further down), I suddenly lost control of my laptop for a few hours.  He became the reviewer, so if additional portions of this review appear in crayon, I can’t be held responsible!

Other Controls
Other video controls available were brightness, contrast, and color intensity, as well white balance, which is set to be automatically adjusted by default.

Video Effects
Logitech hit it right-on the money when it came to this option.  My son loves playing with the different Avatars, which are nothing more than computer generated graphics which replace your face & body.  He really liked using them when talking to his Grandma and Grandpa on the other side of the state.  Not exactly what THEY wanted to see, but it gives my son an endless amount of enjoyment and entertainment.  Several other Avatars that are bundled with the package are "stick figure", "alien", "cat", and "shark".  Others Avatars and Video Accessories  (think mustaches and hats, superimposed on top of your face) are available for download, but their use is dictated by how much spare Video and CPU cycles you have available.

 

Picture & Framerate Quality
Picture Quality was quite impressive, and pictures taken at the default "e-mail" quality were 320x240, and VGA pictures were 640x480, which is where the unit really shined.  The camera was capable of showing live video up to 2304x1728 (4 Mega Pixel), however, it was only able to record an actual picture as high as 1.3MP.  Additionally, it was only able to record video segments at the VGA (640x480) resolution.  In one sitting in the lunchroom of my day-job, I was able to have all of my friends sit-down for a quick low-res (320x240) snapshot that I was later able to import into Outlook, so that all of my contacts (for co-workers anyways) have personal pictures!

Unfortunately, on the topic of video, the frame rates were fairly disappointing, full of artifacting and skipped frames, and even when frame rates were good, they were at least two seconds behind the audio stream.  These were observed on both Wi-Fi Hotspots, Corporate LAN and Broadband connections at home.  There were no frame counters available in Skype or Logitech's own applications, so it was hard to determine the exact frame rate. However, knowing that the human eye likes to see at least 26 frames per second, and video standards suggest between 28 to 30 frames per second as standard, then I would have to guess that we were seeing somewhere between 14 and 20 frames per second (best case scenario).

 

 

RightLight2 Technology
Logitech employs a technology called RightLight to automatically adjust the camera for different lighting conditions.  It works by sensing the location of your face, ad then dynamically adjusting the foreground and background light levels in order to get the best possible image. Logitech claims that this system, when combined with their "high-resolution sensors, intuitive software and premium lenses, provides the best picture quality and video performance of any webcam on the market".  The end result of this technology is that even in uneven or low-light situations, the pictures and video still appear crisp and clear. The "Pro" series also include Carl Zeiss optics, but the Deluxe edition I am reviewing uses a regular glass lens, so this benefit was unavailable for review.  This is not to say that the regular glass lens is average; on the contrary!  A lot of webcam manufacturers use plastic lenses, which do not produce as sharp a picture as glass.  So right off the top, even with their mid-range offering, the quality of Logitech's devices are at least a notch above the competition.

 

Audio Quality
I was most impressed by RightSound technology, which incorporates Echo Cancellation into the built-in Microphone.  My video conference conversations were very high quality (a fact no doubt assisted by the fact that I have a Logitech QuickCam Ultra at home, which also incorporates RightSound), and the three other parties I called from a busy restaurant with a WiFi connection were unable to hear all the commotion going on around me.  Two thumbs up for that!

 

 

My Final Thoughts
Logitech has created a wonderful line of products in their QuickCam family, and the QuickCam for Notebooks Deluxe is a wonderful addition to that family. It is able to take crisp and clear pictures in "e-mail" and "VGA" resolution, with good support for those uneven or low-lighted situations. The Face Tracking can be a fun feature for the kids to play with (along with the Video Effects mentioned above).  The bundled Application software makes it easy to install your favorite Video Conference software, which more than gets you started on the right path towards having a video conversation with friends and family. You can also E-mail snapshots and short videos clips to friends and family.

Pros 

• Compact design.
• Good quality images .
• Built-in mic with RightSound .
• RightLight able to adjust to several lighting conditions.
• Travel Pouch with fine weave to cushion the QuickCam while in storage.
• Velcro strip on cord which facilitates quick storage.

Cons

• Face-tracking was less than stellar, even on high-end system.
• Low framerates on video, even on high-end system.

Verdict: It's an inexpensive laptop accessory, and it's low profile design make it the superb travel companion for Road Warriors.  And after you use is enough times, 
you will begin to wonder how you managed without it! It is well worth the suggested cost of $60.00.

Final Score: 4 out of 5 Stars

The Specifics

Company Name: Logitech
Company Address: 6505 Kaiser Dr.
Fremont, CA 94555 USA
Company Tel#: 510-795-8500
Company Website: www.logitech.com
Product Cost: $59 for the QuickCam Deluxe for Notebooks.

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