high quality sound on Thinkpads

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savarin
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high quality sound on Thinkpads

#1 Post by savarin » Fri Feb 10, 2006 7:24 am

I have a task. To buy a notebook for my nephew.
Of course, I can buy only a Thinkpad ... :-)

Most of his demands is easy to fulfil (DVD burner, phone over net, movie playing, high quality LCD and battery ...). But he demands hi quality sound too.
If I compare the sound on my Thinkpads the winner is A31p. Clear, intensive sound. But my nephew wants some notebook with warranty. And I can not recommend him T42. It´s sound is subaudible. On such a notebook he can not play movies.

Which Thinkpad have I to buy? Please, recommend me something!

wolfman
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#2 Post by wolfman » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:01 am

An option may be to buy whatever Thinkpad you think is best plus a PCMCIA card like this Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829102185

Assuming that the need for great sound is when the machine is at a desk, etc that would work very well.

Good luck...
Thinkpad T420 | Core i-5 2520M | 16gb RAM | 120gb Intel 520 SSD + 750gb 7200 RPM | 6300 N | Ubuntu 12.04 x64
Desktop: AMD FX-8350 (8 cores) | 32gb ECC RAM | 240gb Intel 530 SSD + 1tb 7200 RPM | Ubuntu 14.04 x64 | HP ZR24w
Previous Thinkpads: A21m, R40, X61, T410

savarin
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#3 Post by savarin » Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:39 am

Thank you for advice, wolfman.

But if you have to use only built-in speakers which Thinkpad would you choose?

mattfromomaha
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#4 Post by mattfromomaha » Fri Feb 10, 2006 1:40 pm

What about the Z series?

savarin
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#5 Post by savarin » Sat Feb 11, 2006 9:32 am

I talked with my nephew. Some of his friends showed him VisionBook 9100WSX vith 4 built-in speakers and built-in subwoofer. Of course, I cannot compare it with any Thinkpad.

My task is "easy" now. I have to find external portable notebook speakers. Not "big" speakers.

Has someone any experieces with such speakers? F.e. USB powered ALTEC Lansing XT1? I read good reviews about this system.

BruisedQuasar
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#6 Post by BruisedQuasar » Tue Feb 14, 2006 12:19 pm

If you want a portable way to enhance the audio, I recently bought a portable, USB powered cooling pad with two speakers. They respond to Windows Media Player graphics bar adjustments & the sound is much better than any factory notebook audio I have heard. Price $29.95, (free shipping off eBay) from the manufacturer (Taiwan)
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#7 Post by davidspalding » Sun Feb 19, 2006 12:47 am

An alternative to SoundBlaster add-ons would be Turtle Beach USB devices. TB has been in the high-end PC audio realm, selling higher quality stuff to SB, for years.

Does he have to have speakers? Frankly, a subwoofer on a notebook sounds like teats on a boar. I'd recommend really good headphones (I like Bose Triports, Sennheisers are great too), or save money on the notebook, and get great speakers. Boses makes good ones ($99, $249), and I'm pretty impressed with my Logitech Z-3 2.1 speakers. Not portable, but sound terrific, even with the T43 built-in audio.
2668-75U T43, 2GB RAM, 2nd hand NMB kybd, Dock II, spare Mini-Dock, and spare Port Replicators. Wacom BT tablet. Ultrabay 2nd HDD.
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#8 Post by dr_st » Sun Feb 19, 2006 7:41 am

Just buy a pair of OK-quality 2.0 speakers (no sub), that won't be too big (thus making them moderately portable) and you should be fine. I don't think external soundcard is obligatory if you just want to play games, movies and basic stereo music - the speakers are the problem, the sound codec itself is fine.

If you do want to improve the soundcard, I'd take a PCMCIA-based solution over a USB-based solution anyday.

messar
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#9 Post by messar » Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:06 pm

http://www.creative.com/products/produc ... duct=10796

I bought this speaker for my T43, and it works great. It's maybe what you are looking for, besides the color :?

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#10 Post by marcos » Fri Feb 24, 2006 1:45 am

messar wrote:http://www.creative.com/products/produc ... duct=10796

I bought this speaker for my T43, and it works great. It's maybe what you are looking for, besides the color :?
uhhh clashing match with the thinkpad ... yet my sonic impact portable speakers aren't much better ...

http://portables.about.com/od/portables ... review.htm

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