Dell XPS laptop has horrible mic output

[nubuilder99]

Sorry for the lack of details but my brother has a Dell XPS gaming laptop. It has a built in mic but would only work if you practically shouted into it. So, he purchased a low level Steel Series headset hoping it would help. Mic output is still horrible. Running Vista and no gain adjustment is available in Control Panel. When we play games he comes in clear with no static but I can barely hear him.

Can he download software to fix this or does he need some kind of amp?

...Sorry the laptop is about 8-9 years old. I don't know which model it is specifically.

 

[hannibal]

Have you tried usb mic/headset. It is possible that the mic hardware inside the computer has been damaged by the years of using, so the there are so many alternatives. You can use external sound card (always viable idea with laptops. http://www.whathifi.com/news/best-dacs-to-buy-in-2014)
Or use usb based mic or usb based headset, that actually have build in sound card.
Both bypass the internal sound device that seems to be the problem in this case.