Hey, I have a laptop, which I want to buy some 5.1 speakers to connect to it. I have a Realtek'97 Sound Card inside, and I've been told by my friend, who's a big speaker-fan, he has two MASSIVE Bose ones in his room, that it should be ok, and it should work. But I need a second opinion? Will it work or not? Any info would be great :mrgreen:
Ste 0 Newbie Poster
nizzy1115 14 Practically a Posting Shark
The answer is yes it will work, but you will not get "true" surround sound. It will be matrix mode (giving your speakers support it) which would mimic 5.1 at best from a stereo source ie your laptop which is only 2.0. If your speakers do not support matrix mode, you may be stuck with a 2.1 speaker setup.
You do, however, have an option to upgrade your sound to support true 5.1 dolby. You can do this in one of two ways. You can buy a pci sound card that slides in a slot on the side of your laptop like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102185 which will give you the best overall results, but it is kindor pricey.
You can also get a usb sound card, but it will draw a but more cpu power to operate, but it is cheaper and will do the trick as well. It wont sound as crisp compared to the other one but it is half the price and is still pretty good output. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102174
Hope this helps some, and just remember if your going to spend money to get some 5.1 speakers, spend the little extra to get the most out of their sound :)
Ste 0 Newbie Poster
Wicked man, thanks so much :) I understand now, I got told by my mate, after posting this, a diff friend, that it uses 3 ports and I only had one, anyway, thanks a lot man :) It's helped loads :)
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