Where Are Microphones On Hp Laptops? (We Checked)

Where are the microphones on HP laptops? If you can’t figure out where it is, don’t worry. You’re not alone.

Most users search for this question about HPs.

In this article, I will give you a complete guide and answer the where are microphones on hp laptops question.

Table of Contents

How Do I Know If There Are Microphones In My Hp Laptop?

Several HP laptops have an internal microphone, and most of them are usually enabled by default if you’re not sure whether your laptop has one.

There are two ways to check if your laptop has a built-in mic.

The easiest way is to look at the front of your laptop. We have a guide here on whether all laptops have microphones built-in.

It’ll be placed somewhere around the top if you have a microphone. It’s often just above the screen, but it can also be on one side of the top of the laptop like in this picture:

If you don’t see anything like this, a microphone could still be built into your laptop. But it might have been removed or disabled.

The other way to check if your laptop has a built-in microphone is to go through your computer’s settings menu.

Press the Windows key to bring up the Start menu, type “Audio devices,” and press Enter to open the Sound window.

Click the Recording tab.

All your devices will be listed in this section: any that display a green checkmark is enabled and ready to use. If you see a microphone here, you’ve found it!

If you don’t see a microphone listed, then the chances are that your HP laptop doesn’t have one built-in… or it’s disabled.

If it’s been accidentally disabled, then you can turn it on by following these steps:

Go to Settings > System > Sound.
Click on “Sound Control Panel” in the right panel.
Choose “Recording” and then right-click on an empty area of that tab.
Ensure “Show Disabled Devices” is checked, and click on “Show Disconnected Devices.“

Five Places Microphones Are Placed In Hp Laptops

Some HP laptops include a microphone in the display screen bezel that can be used for face-to-face video chatting.

Other HP laptops have multiple microphones built into the keyboard area, designed to cancel out background noise and focus on the audio coming from the front of the user.

Depending on the model of your HP laptop, there are several places microphones are placed in HP laptops, such as near the camera and near the keyboard.

If you have an HP Pavilion or an OMEN, you have a built-in microphone in the top center of your screen.

If you have a Spectre x360, your internal microphone is located on the bottom right side of your screen. Additional microphones may be found near the hinges of convertible laptop models.

In some of the older models, you can find the microphone located differently. It may be located near the keyboard or placed on the right side of your laptop.

Near The Camera

Most built-in microphones on laptops are located toward the top of the display by the webcam.

The camera is generally located in the middle of the screen, and the microphone will be just below it.

See if you can find it near your camera or webcam.

Some HP laptops use a digital microphone array in which two microphones are placed on each side of the camera, on the top of the screen. These microphones appear as two small round holes to the left and right of the webcam.

Near The Keyboard

Most HP laptop models with a microphone on the keyboard can be located right above the F8-F10 function keys. It’s a tiny hole in the middle that’s easy to miss.

The HP Pavilion dv6t-7000 uses four digital microphones positioned near the keyboard.

They appear as two small round holes near the top of each speaker grille.

Near The Speakers

A microphone can be used on a laptop to capture the sound when trying to communicate with speech recognition software or video conferencing. The microphone could also be used in conjunction with voice commands and voice recognition software.

Near The Fingerprint Scanner

The HP G2 and G3 Elitebooks place their microphone near the fingerprint scanner on the left side of the keyboard. If you disable the fingerprint scanner, you also disable your mic.

On the other hand, mics for the HP Omen are located at the base of your laptop, next to where your keyboard meets its frame.

These models have a side-mounted fingerprint reader for faster authentication with Windows Hello.

The Omen also has a second mic near its 720p webcam at the top of your screen.

Near The Touchpad

The touchpad is located under the keyboard, in the center of the laptop. It’s convenient for typing, but it also helps control your computer by moving a pointer (known as a cursor) around.

This is called the pointer because it points to things on screen and lets you interact with content such as text or images.

You can move the pointer by sliding your finger across the touchpad in any direction. If you’d like to open an app, click or tap on its icon. This will cause it to launch (startup).

Microphones Are Used For Different Purposes

There are a lot of places microphones can be located in HP laptops.

HP laptops can have multiple microphones.

Microphones can be used for voice commands:

The microphone on the keyboard (located above the keyboard)
The microphone on the edge of the computer (located along the edges)

Microphones can be used for dictation:

The microphone on the screen (built into screen or external device attached to screen)
Microphone array (multiple microphones that may be built into or attached to the top of a laptop monitor)

Microphones can be used for conferencing:

Front microphone array (may be built into or attached to the front of laptop monitor)

Can You Disable Microphones Altogether In A Laptop?

If you’ve never checked the privacy settings for your computer’s microphone, you should. You might be surprised to learn that it’s turned on and recording audio.

In some cases, this is by design.

When the computer detects an audio signal, it can create captions of what someone is saying. That’s useful for people who are hard of hearing, but it may also capture private conversations and send them to Google or another company.

Here’s how you can disable your laptop’s microphone, so it doesn’t accidentally record anything.

Disabling the microphone prevents applications from listening in on your conversations. This can be useful if you want to leave your laptop open but do not want people to know what you are talking about.

Macintosh:

Press Command-Spacebar to launch Spotlight. Type “Audio MIDI Setup” and press Enter.
Double-click on the internal microphone in the left column. Click “Configure Speakers” and select “Stereo.” Click “Done.”

Windows 7/Vista:

Click on Start or the Windows logo icon in the lower-left corner of your screen. Type “MMC” in the search field and press Enter.
Click on File and then click Add/Remove Snap-in. Double-click Device Manager and then click OK.
Expand Audio inputs and outputs by double-clicking it. Find your internal microphone from the list, right-click it, and select Disable from the context menu.

Windows 10:

Click the Start menu at the bottom-left corner of your screen. Select Settings > System > Sound.
Click the Recording tab at the top of the window. Right-click in the box that displays your computer’s recording devices and select Show Disabled Devices from the drop-down menu.
Right-click on Microphone and select Enable from the drop-down menu. If your laptop has a physical switch that disables its mic, make sure it is flipped on.
Select Microphone once again and click Set Default at the bottom of the window to set it as your default recording device. You can now use any program that requires a mic, and it will automatically use this one instead of an external mic if one is plugged into your computer.

Windows XP:

Open Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Audio tab.
Select Sound Recording and click on the Volume button.
In the recording control window, click on Options -> Properties. Then from the “Adjust volume for” list, select
Recording and make sure that the Microphone is checked. Now click OK and disable the Microphone by moving the slider to the bottom.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this will help solve some of your mic issues with your hp laptop. If you have any further questions feel free to ask, and I’ll be happy to answer as best I can

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