Gaming Laptop Reviews Issue 114 - but what about SOUND ?

[varkanoid]

Hi

just been reading the Gaming Laptop reviews again for a second time and realised a glaring omission. No mention of the sound quality. Surely for a gaming feature on laptops sound is just as important as GPU or CPU scores especially with laptops as the speakers on them can be quite naff.

Okay you may want to use headphones with a laptop but the quality of your gaming experience still depends largely on what a game sounds like as much as the FPS.

For instance the OCUK Limited has a THX certified sticker so would the score of it be raised if the sound was taking into consideration ?

Even the table of features/comparison does not mention the sound card used !

[audigex]

I consider myself an audiophile - a 1500 quid B&O audio system in my car, a couple of grands worth of hi-fi and speakers in the house - and I've yet to find a laptop with anything other than either optical out (ie Macbook series, in which case it outputs the raw audio and the laptop has nothing to do with sound quality) or precisely average sound.

No better, no worse, every single laptop ice found or used sounds virtually the same in terms of quality. There is some variation in warmth of tone which will come down to preference but in terms of range and accuracy there is little to choose between them.

Either get one with digital out and let a decent decoder do the leg work, or don't worry about it, you won't get enough improvement to be worth the effort - and chances are that your speakers/headphones will be the deciding factor regardless

[Krikkit]

Originally Posted by audigex

*snip*

USB DAC - sorted. Cheap portable one with cans for on-the-go, more expensive one at home.

[Guinevere]

Originally Posted by audigex

Either get one with digital out and let a decent decoder do the leg work, or don't worry about it, you won't get enough improvement to be worth the effort

A typical audiophile approach. If it's not 'perfect' then you won't get enough improvement between systems. Certainly not the case though, we've all seen laptops with volume so restricted you just can't get any decent sound from them, and we've all heard laptops with 'surprisingly good' sound given their size.

There can be a huge different between the speakers on one laptop and another, but yes you're right that they will never equal a decent external DAC, Amp and speaker setup.

[Parge]

I got a Creative X-Fi USB external soundcard for my LAN rig - its ace!