Audio Input Quality - Desktop vs. Laptop

I want to record quality sound through my new iBook USB when using iMovie 5 but have been unable to do so even with the top microphones available, including a Samson C01U.
Although the sound input level shows high in both the Sound control panel and in iMovie the volume just isn't there. Put it up any higher and I'm in the red and it distorts.
Even when I speak loudly AND crank the sound volume up 150% in iMovie the sound level is low when exported (the sound quality seems ok, when I play it loud on my stereo...the sound LEVEL is poor.)
To try and troubleshoot this and find out more info I visited the Apple store today.
We plugged the C01U into a G5 desktop and the sound levels were just fantastic...I could speak very normally and the input levels were way up there...we could see them on the fly because we recorded into Garage Band.
We tried it on an iBook, a powerbook, and the desktop. The sound levels were poor on the laptops but clearly far far better on the desktop.
We retried it just to be sure...we were both quite surprised. One Apple genius suggested that the USB ports on the laptop aren't as strong as on the desktop and perhaps the mic wasn't getting enough juice (but wouldn't there be an alert message if that were so?).
So he found a USB hub, four input, powered via AC, and no difference.
I was able to reproduce this at home on my desktop dual G4...the sensitivity was so much greater when recording via the USB. I could speak at normal volume and it would sound great, loud, on playback.
Why?

The use of a "compressor" makes no sense to me.
Why...woudln't I want to reduce the dynamic range so I can talk loudly without it being clipped and quieter and still be heard?
The folks who sell the Samson line are not Apple savy. I suggest you take a look at the various devices offered by Griffen including the iMic if you are going to try to use your laptop in the field as your audio recording device.
Well I have an iMic and a the Griffin laveleer mic. The mic is worth the $15 it cost. It's basically the same quality as a radio shack lavaleer...which means not too good for what I need.
The Samson mic is a pro-level mic and you can clearly hear that quality...when recording on a desktop. It's only $80 and it;s better than the $175 Audio-Technica lavaleer I previously mentioned.
But when you record on the laptop the sound levels aren't there so he suggestion compression so I can get a signal going from 60-80% (as best I understand) instead of 50-85%.
I'm finding it very hard to talk loud enough to get a nice signal...and then you get loss when you export it for the web.
Of course, like the rest of us, you are starting to save money so you can buy one of the swoopy FW interfaces for field use, right?
Yes, I am now looking for a pre-amp compressor but it can't be a $500 one. I'd have to try one to see if it's better than the Samson's built in pre-amp.

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    Keith Barkley wrote:
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