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Step 1
Decide how much money you want to spend. Webcams come in all different price ranges. You can buy one that's anywhere from under $20 to over $150. Choose a price that's the most you're willing to spend--the more expensive ones are often better quality, so you might end up buying at the higher end of your price range.
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Step 2
Figure out what features you want. There are some brands work in the dark. If mounting is important to you, find one that easily mounts onto your monitor or laptop screen. Some webcams only film video, and some also take pictures. Pick the most important features and make a list of webcams that have these in your price range.
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Step 3
Pick a good brand that fits in with your price range. Brands can be researched online--it's always good to look at reviews from people who already have the product. As a general rule, if you've heard of the brand or have products from that brand already, it's probably high quality (see Resources below).
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Step 4
Decide how many megapixels you want. This depends on what you're going to use it for. You'll want a high resolution if you want to take pictures with your webcam--the higher the resolution, the better the pictures. The lowest megapixel you'll find is one; two or three is a decent megapixel resolution.
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Step 5
Get a webcam with a warranty. Some of the more expensive webcams come with 1- to 3-year warranties. If you think your webcam is going to be in dangerous conditions or traveling a lot, think about getting a webcam with a warranty if you don't want to replace it if it breaks.
