[salutonmundo]

> you also can buy a great XLR microphone for $100, but then you’ll need an external sound card with phantom power supply.

this is only true if you buy a condenser microphone. a dynamic microphone will work reasonably fine with your onboard soundcard if you have an xlr-->1/8" trs cable.

[bserge]

But with a dynamic mic, you will likely need a preamp - the inbuilt ones on laptops and most devices aren't enough.

You can get battery powered condenser mics, though, and output unbalanced XLR to 3.5mm, works fine.