Speakers on Macbook?

I have never owned a mac before and I am going to be buying a new macbook soon. I was just wondering how are the speakers on it? Loud, raspy, etc. Thanks.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by the sound quality on my MacBook. I switched from a Dell m1330 and the sound difference was like night and day.

 

Cheap-sounding, as most laptop speakers are. They benefit from the macbook being on a flat, solid surface. They're loud enough, but not loud. If you're in a moderately noisy environment you'll have to turn them up all the way and not stray too far from the macbook.

 

They're okay, but just like almost all notebooks, the bass is definitely weak. Whenever you can, I suggest plugging in earphones or external speakers. They suffice, but I'm getting more audiophile-ic, so yeah .

 

If you want good sound for a laptop, get the macbook pro. The speakers are awesome for laptop speakers, and for a laptop system that has no subwoofer. You can feel the speaker feedback on the laptop, and if you hold up the laptop with your hand on the bottom, it feels like it does have a small sub. And the sound is very clear, and has a lot of depth to it. I'm an audiophile also so I know what im listening for. I am used to listening to $1,000 custom earbuds so thats saying something.

 

I hear the 17-inch MBPs have even better speakers too, because there's more room to put in better ones!

 

No laptop has speakers even passable for an audiophile. Pretty much whatever you buy, you will still need to plug in a decent external set for serious music listening.

Disclaimer before I get flamed for being a "dell fanboy": I do not own a macbook pro. I am not insulting it's quality, reliablity, looks, performance, coolness or suitability for any particular purpose but merely give my comments in the hope that they might be useful to the OP.

 

i agree that the macbook pro has some of the best laptop speakers ever. the macbook speakers aren't bad either as far as laptop speakers go. but don't expect a symphony.

even the macbook pro speakers are horrible compared to even an average set of stand alone speakers or headphones.

the general is absolutely right on this one.

 

dell has a fanbase??

i played with the MBP speakers at the store, they are okay. better than some, slightly better than the altex lansing speakers in my 17" HP dv9500

 

Macbook speakers are ok, but only if your sitting infront of it. The speakers are designed to bounce the sound off the screen to the user. So if one of your friends infront of you says "turn it up I can't hear it" thats why. I recommend you get external speakers for home. I just got some Logitech z 5500's and I am in love with them.

p.s. CarLessDriven where do you get your custom headphones?

 

If quantity of accusations makes truth, then apparently they do.

 

im JM. but in reality, the Dell fanbase is the biggest of them all. countless people walk into best buy asking for dell. i have no clue why either, i typically don't sell them, but if it's what they want i will.

 

Possibly, it comes from being one of the world's largest PC manufacturers. The distincition is between buying a computer and being a "fanboy", the former is a justifiable decision whereas the latter is an accusation mad when someone lacks and appropriate response.

There are reasons for buying them, though I would never walk into a store for one: Price : performance ratio and (in the latitude line) build quality.

Anyway, this is getting off topic.

 

ill give them the Latitude line, and the XPS series, but none the less it's still a dell, and ever since that terrible Inspiron E1505 i had, i can never go back.

 

I agree, the Inspirons have become a kind of redundant hanger-on. They used to offer decent performance for a cheap price but that has since been moved to the XPS line. I personally bought both of mine for work and light gaming, they perform that admirably for a business laptop and the support is very good.

Having said that, I'm deliberately moving away from them for my next laptop because it lacks that "special" feel that you want when shelling out £1500 (about $3000).

On the subject of laptop speakers: They will seem good if you have nothing else to compare them to. I thought my Latitude D610 speakers were incredible (they were good deal better than my previous inspiron) until I bought my Bose system. So my only recommendation can be that if you plan on using them, never ever listen to a decent set of external speakers because it will spoil you.

 

i figure, if i'm going to spend this much $ on a computer, i might as well go all out and get some bose headphones too:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7997322&type=product&id=1155071450943
(if i can get them half off with my discount.)
get those, with a MBP, and i've already got my razor mouse:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8313595&type=product&id=1174694191542
(got it for 37 bucks.)
those three and ill be made in the shade. top of the line stuff for college (hoping i dont get mugged.) now all i'd need would be a good backpack/bag.

 

Excellent choices. Anything by Bose will be very good and the Razer Deathadder is incredible, would look awesome placed next to an Alienware m17x .

It's scary to think how much all this stuff costs. Yesterday I realised I had £3500 worth of electronics on me (Dell Latitude D610 & D420, Razer Deathadder mouse, BlackBerry Pearl) and a friend then dropped my bag containing the whole lot about 2-3 foot onto the floor!

 

I hope you promptly smacked him silly!

 

i have the deathadder and the lycosa gaming keyboard as well. (from back when i had a desktop. pretty cool. the blue lights on the deathadder go well with my blue lights on my HP laptop, but the blue backlit keyboard on that alienware would be awesome possum.

however the real debate for me now is if i really want to make such a switch... or if i want to stay true to my windows. (windows user since 95. and i'm only 18. born and raised windows.)

 

I did. His funeral is next Wednesday . I just reminded him that it was more than his life's worth to break any of that.

Nice, I would buy one but I plan on getting the m17x as soon as it comes out. My Dell Latitude is pretty plain ("professional"), the Alienware will make a nice change.

Personally, I've been looking for a reason to make the switch but never quite found one. Something about just doesn't "feel right" and I can never seem to find something that fits my needs. Currently, my list of niches to fill are:

• Ultraportable notebook - To be carried and used day-in, day-out. MBA came out a bit too late, and it's not truly practical.
• Gaming laptop - A gaming/workstation machine to sit on my desk but still be vaguely portable
• Workstation desktop - Something at home, act as storage space and perform things with which I don't want to clog up my laptop.

If Apple could make something that would do those then I would jump on it.

 

Well, people walking into Best Buy asking for a product and people actually being fans of something is different. The majority of the population is not tech-y, they just want a "fast computer that is cheap and looks nice". They do not want to do too much research, they just want something reliable. If you don't really know too much about technology, you'll obviously get something from the large manufacturers (Dell, HP), because your thoughts are "they're the best-selling, obviously they can't go wrong".

I'm not bashing Dell, I like some Dell computers and I think they're a good company. I just feel that the majority of Dell customers aren't really fans of them but rather purchase them because they're cheap and the company is big, so "they can't go wrong".

In the same way most people buy Apple products to look cool. Sad, but true.

 

I was born and raised Windows too, first computer Windows 95, in high school currently (13-18 age bracket ). The switch to Mac took me a day or two to get comfortable, about two weeks to confidently say I know my Mac. Its not that bad!

 

ive used mac's for about 3 years. tiger, and whatever was before that (my school has them. they have some newer intel imac's, and older mac's (the ones with the clear colored cases.) i've used macs before, but making the switch to vista is going to be huge for me.
i guess itunes replaces windows media player
and quicktime plays the videos.
i'd get office for mac, and i guess Firefox runs on mac.

is there a utility out there that lets you switch off the dock? i think it might be annoying, i guess u can have an auto-hide on. does it annoy anyone else.

and for IMing i hear adium is pretty good, since ichat is only for AIM

 

Most of the tasks you do in Windows, you can do on a Mac just as well or in some cases even better! The dock you can just auto-hide, I find it quite useful, and aesthetically nicer than the Windows taskbar. You can minimize it too if you think its too big and you want it not auto-hidden.

www.apple.com/support/switch101 is a really good Switch guide, you can see its not that dramatic!

 

what about for all my videos? i have alot of vids that use divX. how does that work out? what program does mac have for that?

 

We were just talking about that in another thread.

There's VLC, and if you don't like that, you can always get the great pack of codecs Perian for Quicktime Player.

It works great!

 

the m17x has already been released...you can find some fist impressions on this site

 

i'm probably going to buy my Bose headphones/ear buds today. i get them half off, so its pretty awesome possom.

 

just a follow up. these new headphones i got have amazing quality, however the cord is white and black and looks rather odd. so idk what i'm going to do. haha.

 

There is DivX for Mac .

 

Not in the UK. Only the US website has it and there are no "proper" reviews.

You'll probably get used to the looks, though I haven't seen these headphones in person. I'm betting the quality will make up for any lack in looks.