laptop audio

I want to buy a new 15" laptop and one of the main criteria is that it
should produce reasonable quality sound when we are listening to the bbc
iplayer, dvds etc..
I have a laptop at present but the sound quality is tinny and abysmle..
The Acer laptops are shown as having dolby sound but I am not sure if this
makes a difference. it is not easy to try them out in a store otherwise I
would take along a cd and listen to that.
Does anyone know of a brand that has reasonable sound output?
My price range is between £450 and £550.
Thank you.

Thank you; the two I am looking at just now are the Acer AS5532 and the Acer
Aspire 5536G. There is not a lot of price difference.



"AJL" <> wrote in message
news...
> "Stewart" <> wrote:
>
>>I want to buy a new 15" laptop and one of the main criteria is that it
>>should produce reasonable quality sound when we are listening to the bbc
<snip>
<snip>

I doubt if there is any significant difference in the "sound card" of
any laptops. The differences are in the output stages and the speakers.
The best advice might be to use external amps and speakers, but some
laptops are definitely better in this regard than others.


Stewart wrote:
> I want to buy a new 15" laptop and one of the main criteria is that it
> should produce reasonable quality sound when we are listening to the bbc
> iplayer, dvds etc..
> I have a laptop at present but the sound quality is tinny and abysmle..
> The Acer laptops are shown as having dolby sound but I am not sure if this
> makes a difference. it is not easy to try them out in a store otherwise I
> would take along a cd and listen to that.
> Does anyone know of a brand that has reasonable sound output?
> My price range is between £450 and £550.
> Thank you.
>
>

"Stewart" <> wrote in
news:hcfdi8$ukh$:

> I want to buy a new 15" laptop and one of the main criteria is that it
> should produce reasonable quality sound when we are listening to the
> bbc iplayer, dvds etc..
> I have a laptop at present but the sound quality is tinny and
> abysmle.. The Acer laptops are shown as having dolby sound but I am
> not sure if this makes a difference. it is not easy to try them out
> in a store otherwise I would take along a cd and listen to that.
> Does anyone know of a brand that has reasonable sound output?
> My price range is between £450 and £550.
> Thank you.
>
>
>

Put some of your favorite music on a USB flash drive and test them all....

After you're as dissatisfied as the rest of us, start shopping for an
external speaker/amp or portable headphones, the latter of which are a much
better solution.

Here, waste $11.82 on these Sennheisers:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Z7BYSA
then try to find something that sounds better that is so comfortable and
will store in your little laptop case. Sennheiser anything is fantastic,
even ones so cheap!

I don't think you'll find ANY laptop that sounds good, even ones costing
more because BOSE sold 'em a license to use their name. "Poor" is my best
rating. Netbooks are rated "Horrible!". I don't even know why they bother
putting earbud drivers in little plastic tubes and calling them a
"speaker".

Good luck.

--
Larry

In news:hcft4g$bft$,
Barry Watzman typed on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:33:30 -0400:
> I doubt if there is any significant difference in the "sound card" of
> any laptops. The differences are in the output stages and the
> speakers. The best advice might be to use external amps and
> speakers, but some laptops are definitely better in this regard than
> others.

"Newer Toshiba laptops will see (or rather, hear) the wonders of Waves'
MaxxAudio signal processing technology. Unfortunately, this improvement
can only be heard on Japan-bound notebooks."

I also thought my old Toshiba 2595XDVD laptops from '99 sounded very
well for being a laptop. The speakers were very large and were on top of
the top keyboard row.

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives...eat_sound.html

--
Bill
Gateway MX6124 ('06 era) - Windows XP SP2

Stewart () wrote:
> I want to buy a new 15" laptop and one of the main criteria is that it
> should produce reasonable quality sound when we are listening to the bbc
> iplayer, dvds etc..

(Snip)
> The Acer laptops are shown as having dolby sound but I am not sure if
> this makes a difference. it is not easy to try them out in a store
> otherwise I would take along a cd and listen to that.

*** I would think that any salesperson would allow customers to try
out audio if it means a sale.


> Does anyone know of a brand that has reasonable sound output? My price
> range is between £450 and £550.

*** The likelihood today of getting decent sound in anything in that
price range is low. They make them as cheaply as possible. If you want to
get a pro model, they might sound better but will cost you considerably
more.

I think the suggestions here regarding external speakers may end up
being your best solution as far as sound goes, but would reduce
portability, and would extend the set-up time. )-:

--
Richard Bonner
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/

Over the years, Toshiba laptops as a group have unusually good speaker
systems, sometimes with a dedicated "subwoofer". But it's
model-by-model specific and not universal. And I don't think that most
of the current models are as good as some of the past models have been.


BillW50 wrote:
> In news:hcft4g$bft$,
> Barry Watzman typed on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:33:30 -0400:
>> I doubt if there is any significant difference in the "sound card" of
>> any laptops. The differences are in the output stages and the
>> speakers. The best advice might be to use external amps and
>> speakers, but some laptops are definitely better in this regard than
>> others.
>
> "Newer Toshiba laptops will see (or rather, hear) the wonders of Waves'
> MaxxAudio signal processing technology. Unfortunately, this improvement
> can only be heard on Japan-bound notebooks."
>
> I also thought my old Toshiba 2595XDVD laptops from '99 sounded very
> well for being a laptop. The speakers were very large and were on top of
> the top keyboard row.
>
> http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives...eat_sound.html
>

Barry Watzman () wrote:
> Over the years, Toshiba laptops as a group have unusually good speaker
> systems, sometimes with a dedicated "subwoofer". But it's
> model-by-model specific and not universal. And I don't think that most
> of the current models are as good as some of the past models have been.

*** I have a couple of friends in, or associated with, the laptop repair
business. Their general consensus is that the majority of today's laptops
are much more poorly built than older models, with components that are
underspecified or are not tested for value accuracy.

--
Richard Bonner
http://www.chebucto.ca/~ak621/DOS/

I have worked for laptop manufacturers, service laptops and teach IT
(specifically A+ certification and networking courses) at a local college.

I disagree with the part of your post which stated "components that are
underspecified or are not tested for value accuracy"; but I do agree
with "today's laptops are much more poorly built than older models".

The differences are not components or specifications, but rather what I
call "build quality". The decline in "build quality" comes from
pressure to cut down on cost, weight and size, all of which contribute
to systems that are electrically well designed but which are
mechanically flimsy and of inferior quality compared to the way that
laptops were built 4 to 8 years ago.


Richard Bonner wrote:
> Barry Watzman () wrote:
>> Over the years, Toshiba laptops as a group have unusually good speaker
>> systems, sometimes with a dedicated "subwoofer". But it's
>> model-by-model specific and not universal. And I don't think that most
>> of the current models are as good as some of the past models have been.
>
> *** I have a couple of friends in, or associated with, the laptop repair
> business. Their general consensus is that the majority of today's laptops
> are much more poorly built than older models, with components that are
> underspecified or are not tested for value accuracy.
>

In news:hclr0h$thk$,
Barry Watzman typed on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:34:06 -0500:
> I have worked for laptop manufacturers, service laptops and teach IT
> (specifically A+ certification and networking courses) at a local
> college.
> I disagree with the part of your post which stated "components that
> are underspecified or are not tested for value accuracy"; but I do
> agree with "today's laptops are much more poorly built than older
> models".
>
> The differences are not components or specifications, but rather what
> I call "build quality". The decline in "build quality" comes from
> pressure to cut down on cost, weight and size, all of which contribute
> to systems that are electrically well designed but which are
> mechanically flimsy and of inferior quality compared to the way that
> laptops were built 4 to 8 years ago.

I don't know... as computers are always going to get more powerful and
less expensive over time. And I am not convinced that there is a decline
in built quality either. As laptops have also improved over the years
too. Like getting rid of florescent lamps and inverters and trading them
for a row of bright LEDs. Which are much more reliable and not as
sensitive to shock.

Speaking about not sensitive to shock, we are only a few years away from
SSDs replacing old mechanical hard drives. I too also believe this is
far better than the older method. And speaking of mechanical hard
drives, these too have been improved over the years. Some even sport
anti-shock features. They have also increased in capacity and also
dropped in price.

Take my old Epson PX-8 built back in 1984. I like to think of it as the
first netbook. As it is about the same size and shape. But the display
is terrible and it is heavy. Besides it is very limited compared to
today's standards. Although it is well built, nonetheless. Although it
also cost $2000 (including the RAMDrive and extras) back then. I do love
the Epson's keyboard, but for that price you should get a great
keyboard. Even then and now though, I would have traded it for one of
today's netbooks in a heartbeat. ;-)

--
Bill
Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2