Audio on A2X series laptops better than Inspiron 3800/8X00?

[imzjustplayin]

One thing I really hate about my inspiron 3800 is that it makes odd noises, the sound sucks terribly, and I can't use the infrared with out being subjected to a pattern of sounds coming from the speakers (same with headphones). I was reading about the a2X laptops on the thinkpad mailing list and one complaint was that it wasn't very sturdy at all, build quality was down from the 770x and that for one guy, he'd hear crackling and whatnot from the speakers..
Is this true? How unreliable are the A2X laptops? Is the sound better or worse than the T series? How is it comparable overall to the Inspiron 3800/8X00 series laptop? Is the sound better than those laptops? I have a 3800 but considering an 8x00 cause then I could sell my 3800, use some parts from it and I'd get a vastly better video card, either a geforce 2 or a Radeon 9000. But since the infrared with the sound thing bother me so much, not to mention supposedly inferior build, I'm on the edge at this point. Either way the A2X should be much better in the video department.