> No laptop has had a lid as thick as a phone in decades

Maybe I'm nitpicking, but I feel like this is a bit much of an exaggeration. I just measured my Pixel 3 (at its thickest point, the camera lens) and a 2011 Macbook Pro (including the rubber bumper, admittedly, but those were super slim at the time), and the MBP is only ~2mm thinner than the Pixel. The race for ultra-thin laptops seems like a relatively recent thing to me.

The Logitech C920/C922/C930 series with autofocus are OK for personal or small group use. Of the consumer USB webcams, I haven't found any other makers' to be as good. Only 1080p 30Hz, but any more is demanding too much of your recipients' bandwidth and hardware in the general case.

Advice from my wife, a photographer:

- if you're still having picture problems (after setting the camera's anti-flicker to 50Hz/60Hz as appropriate), put diffuse illumination on your face e.g. a full-screen browser window on http://blank.org; or for more control--colour temperature as well as brightness--a cheap LED panel and desktop tripod (from a photo supplies shop).

- turn off any "smoothing" or "beauty"features in the cam's software.

- likewise, don't use any fake background features. Pin up a plain bedsheet behind yourself if you think your place is too messy to be the background.

Anyway, once there is a picture of any kind, in my experience most people care more about the audio being unclear or laggy, so you're well ahead.

In my experience, even the most basic of webcams is perfectly acceptable when paired with decent lighting. I'd highly recommend something like https://www.elgato.com/en/ring-light (no affiliation, just a happy customer)

Many "real" camera manufacturers (at least Canon, Nikon, Sony, I think Fuji as well) have released software during the past six months that allow many of their existing system cameras (DSLR or mirrorless) to be used as very high quality webcams. Likely overkill if all you need is a webcam, but might be worth considering if you also need a camera and/or happen to already own a compatible one.