Wanna spend a bit this summer: Audio/Video set up.

Looking for a bit of an upgrade this summer, so I'm hoping to invest in a new monitor, and maybe new speakers.
I particularly like this monitor - Full HD Resolution, 250cd/m2 brightness & 5ms response time, nice size, HDMI and Audio In/Out - seems like a winner to me at €150.
HDMI means I could connect my PlayStation up to it, and audio in/out means I can use a single sound set up for my computer/Playstation over HDMI (and a cheap HDMI hub), and anything else through a 3.5mm jack.
Anything glaringly obvious I might have missed?

Then there's the sound aspect. I'm currently rocking ancient but serviceable Boston BA265's. They're grand, so the video aspect would come first, but ultimately I'd like something better. I'm thinking a 2.1 system - as I'll only have a single 3.5mm jack to feed them. What I don't know is how good the native sound output of the laptop's HDMI is. As it's digital, would I be safe enough in presuming that it's fairly high quality?
And then, to round it off, what speakers would ye suggest?

 

The monitor looks fine, to be fair there aren't much difference between Samsung/LG/ASUS/Dell/etc monitors within that price range anyway. I have a similar LG one, works fine via HDMI. As for speakers, have you got a budget?

 

Well the ones I have at the moment are fine, so it's something I could save towards. I don't want to spend much more than say, €80, unless it's a really stellar set.

EDIT: Actually, I would spend more. My original plan was to go for an amp/bookshelves once I left college, and to simply get a get-me-through set for now, but really I think an amp/'shelves would probably be wasted on a laptop?
Unless the amp had HDMI passthrough... Argh, so many variables - I should be studying!
I'll go dig around a bit more before I decide I guess

 

What do you mean by "wasted on a laptop?"

 

Getting a high quality amp and solely plugging it into the 3.5mm jack on a laptop seems like a waste, as opposed to plugging into a quality turntable/cd player, like it's designed for

 

Infinity Home and Car Audio, Theater Systems, Speakers, Stereo, Electronics, Surround Sound Systems

some amazing speaker set ups. Quite expensive though can easily spend thousands

 

In that case, don't let it be solely to plug into your laptop. Rather, let it serve as one of many interfaces that are connected to your amp. (that's what it designed for). Then the higher quality of the component will just make the "3.5" sound that much better.

 

I might take a gander at a decent 2nd hand amp/speakers system so...
Or some M-Audio's

 

The audio chipset on a laptop isn't all that bad. You may want to consider getting an expresscard or USB sound card though, it will be a better solution and provide better quality. They shouldn't cost too much either, and if you have some good speakers paired with a good amp, your computer can be a fine source, provided that the file quality of your music is good, like 320Kbps MP3 or FLAC.

You may want to browse the forums a little bit at Head-Fi.org - Headphone forums and reviews for audiophiles, but be prepared to lose your wallet upon entering.

 

Yeah, the reason I didn't go for an audio based forum is that I knew I wouldn't get the responses I was looking for.
I did a little bit of research before starting this thread, and any time A/V forums are concerned you see "I have a max budget of €120, can I beat these speakers at that price," to which everyone replies "Well for €200 you can get these which are better" - which is useless.

 

Amps are pretty much foolproof devices (but watch that all connections work and are not damaged) but speakers are another story. Since they're passive and can be used indefinitely, people tend to keep the around for a lot longer than standard electronics. On the other hand, sometime they can get/be damaged from excessive poor quality amplification and it doesn't show up until they reach certain frequencies.

Make sure you test them across the entire range of the music you listen to. You wouldn't want to get them home and find you've got a pop--that's not in the music--every time you listen to a certain passive of you favorite piece. It takes a critical ear even when you're choosing new speakers. So be careful.