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Anything inside a computer chassis is exposed to a nightmare of electrical interference. The CPU, bus, hard drive and other components all emit electrical fields in the kilo, mega and gigahertz range. On top of that, most integrated and internal sound card vendors aren't that serious about efficient shielding, so you're generally much, much better off with ...

If you intend to use the mic with your PC only (and given that you don't have a fancy audio interface with preamps), the better choice would be to use a cheap condenser mic, just like those intended for skype and those which are supplied as a part of a headset, example. The reasoning behind this is that usually the dynamic mics have a lower sensitivity and ...

As far as 1/8 inch inputs go. There is no particular reason a cheap USB interface should be any different from the one built in to your system. In many cases, the built in one may even be better. There may be a boost option available in your recording device settings that will let you amplify the sound further. I unfortunately do not have an XP machine ...

(I just know someone's going to say "get a new laptop" or "replace the motherboard" or something like that...) I wouldn't, because you would probably end up in the same situation after some time. Profesionally speaking, if such a component breaks down, I would say: stop working with it. Instead, get your hands on a not too expensive USB interface. ...

You have largely answered the question yourself in your parenthetical. Updating your sound card drivers if you can might help a little, but the main problem is that the sound card is not protected from the electromagnetic effects of the rest of the computer (plus it's probably not a great card, onboard ones rarely are). The new HP laptops with Beats Audio ...