No more surround sound output?

I own a R1 which is getting old and well advanced in years, and I was looking to replace it with a new 17 but on the dell site I noticed in the pictures that there were only 2 headphone jacks (not including the microphone input), rather than 3, and in the tech specs 5.1 out was not advertised as a feature. As I just got a 5.1 headset for my R1, I had assumed it would still exist on newer models. Is it possible to get a new one that does have 3x 3.5mm outs (that work in a 5.1 configuration)? Or has that been discontinued? If it has been discontinued, are there any other options for laptops that do have such output? I might just have to upgrade the components on my R1 or find a R2/R3 assuming those still had that as a feature.

 

There are 3 audio jacks:

• Headphones and microphone combo port
• Headphones/Speakers port
• Microphone port

The driver software has settings for stereo, quadrophonic and 5.1 - but when using the built-in speakers, stereo appears to be the correct setting.

HOWEVER, when you start connecting audio plugs into the 3 audio jacks, a popup-window is displayed. You can configure it so the front port goes to the front L/R speakers, the middle port goes to the center speaker/subwoofer, and the rear port goes to the side surround speakers. I tested this on the 5.1 speaker system connected to my desktop - and was able to get 5.1 surround sound out of my new AW17.

The system comes with very little documentation - I couldn't find anything to explain this - but once you start hooking up the speakers - the software helps you through it.

 

You could just get an external Sound card. That would solve all your issues.

 

Hmm, so that means I wouldn't be able to use both my headset and attached microphone at the same time, since the mic port would be used for sound. That seems less than ideal. I think I'll look around for a R3 or just upgrade some components on my R1 and keep using it for a while longer

 

Well, you can convert the 3 ports into 4 ports.
The center one is a headset port, so it is a trrs style connector (mic and speakers on the same port)
You can get a trrs to trs converter that will split that single port into 2 ports, one for the mic and one for the speaker. This will give you 5.1 plus mic.

More and more laptops are switching over to trrs because they can condense 2 ports into a single one. I also know some headset companies are switching over too. Razer blackshark is a 2 channel headset w/ mic that uses a single headphone jack.

 

It's 5.1. You will be able to use those.