Motherboard noise?

[sturoe]

I tried recording my band practice through my laptop in the crappy 1/8 mic line on the motherboard. I would like to dedicate this to be my recording computer. My question is, if iwas to buy a USB soundcard and record into that, would i still get that hiss and buzz? Im guessing not, but i thought i would ask the experts.

 

[Ford Van]

Hiss and buzz could be a LOT of things, depending upon what you have BEFORE the input of the soundcard.

But, generally speaking, you can potentially have a lower noise floor by having you a/d/a converters outside of the computers chassis.