Is my soundcard good enough to record with?

[OC Speedball]

I just got a new laptop. It has a Realtek High Definition Audio card/speakers. I'm guessing this is an average soundcard. Or is it complete crap?

My question is, is this good enough to record with? Or should I return it and spend an extra $200 for the laptop with a Beats Audio soundcard? (My friend says that I can't change the soundcard on my laptop)

[jimmykan]

That sound card is okay for playback, but open up a sound recording program that features a level monitor and check out the noise floor.

ETA: The noise floor is the amount of noise signal that the recording device adds to your program signal, even when your program signal is OFF. Basically, if you tried to record dead silence, you'd still get some noise. Even on high end analog recording devices, there will always be some noise, but it's often WAY below what the human ear can detect.

Most onboard sound cards can add a slight but detectible amount of "hiss" to your recordings.

There are external sound cards that connect to your computer via USB, so if you want to keep your computer, external sound cards are an option.

Here is a relatively inexpensive one from Behringer, a respectable audio company.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Behringer-U-CONTROL-UCA202-USB-Audio-Interface-103723821-i1154403.gc