How To Add Surround Sound to Your Notebook

Laptops have caught up to mainstream desktop PCs in processing power, gaming performance, screen size, and almost every other feature, except for sound.

 

Most desktop PCs include some kind of surround-sound system, but notebooks are stuck with tinny integrated stereo speakers. If you want to connect a set of external speakers to it, you’re limited to the notebook’s mere two-channel stereo headphone output.

 

If you’re lucky enough to have a high-end entertainment notebook with an S/PDIF connector, like the Toshiba Qosmio G25 or the Asus W2V, you can hook your system directly up to a 5.1-channel speaker system.

 

For the rest of us, there’s Creative’s PCMCIA Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook ($99; www.us.creative.com), a sound card that slips right into your laptop’s PC Card slot.