External sound blaster for old laptop

[woodydoc]

Hi,

I have an old laptop with the following configuration : PIII 500 MHz, 128 Mb SDRAM, 18 GB Hard drive, DVD-ROM drive, USB 2.0 card and running Win 2K. I mainly use the notebook for MP3s, or for watching DVD's. Am not much into games, and the config and my graphics card do not have 3-D graphics support anyway.

At present, I really don't have the budget to get a new laptop. I would like some recommendations for an external sound blaster that would work well with this configuration.

Thanks.

[Nemesis]

A good option would be the Creative Audigy 2 NX External.

REQUIREMENTS

Minimum System Requirements

* Genuine Intel® Pentium® III 500MHz , AMD® K7 600MHz or faster processor
* Intel®, AMD or 100% compatible motherboard chipset
* Windows® 98SE, Me, 2000 SP3 or XP SP1
* 64MB RAM for Windows® 98SE and Me, 128MB RAM for Windows® 2000 SP3 & XP SP1
* 600MB of free hard disk space
* Headphones or amplified speakers (available separately)
* CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive required for software installation
* Available USB port (USB 2.0 port required for USB 2.0 support)

* Users are recommended to use Windows XP for gaming


Additional Requirements For DVD-Audio

* Genuine Intel® Pentium® 4 1.3GHz or equivalent AMD or faster processor
* 128MB RAM

More options can be explored here:

http://creative.com/products/welcome.asp?category=1

Keep an eye out for the system requirements though as some of them need more than what your system can offer. Plus, these external soundcards will mean that you will have to compromise on portability. Most of them come with external power adapters and will be a hassle to carry around.

PS: Even new laptops don't give good quality sound yet...except those based on the 915PM chipset.

[woodydoc]

Hi,

I just checked the Audio chipset specs : it says 'Provides full 5.1 channel Dolby Digital output (AC-3) from DVD decoder via RCA connector.'

The link to the audio chipset specifications is : http://support.gateway.com/s/Mobile/...es/P9300/P9300 47.shtml

The system documentation says:

DVD audio playback : Dolby Digital audio; supports two channel Dolby Digital, MPEG-2 or LPCM playback internally and through analog line output

Dolby Digital output : Optical connector provides full 5.1 channel Dolby Digital Output (AC-3); external Dolby Digital decoder, amplifier, and speakers required.

Does this mean that my on-board sound-card supports 5.1 sound, and all I need is a set of speakers ? In that case, do the 5.1 speakers usually contain inbuilt Dolby Digital decoder and amplifier ?

I checked the system - there is an S/PDIF digital audio output connection which takes a standard RCA connection. Are there 5.1 speaker systems which have S/PDIF support, and can one connect them to the notebook through RCA cable ?

Sorry, but it's really the finer details that I'm not able to figure out. Thanks for any help.