On to speakers for the ASUS z70va

I know that ultimately I need to go to accessories, But there is some info about the ASUS regarding sound I need to know.

1. For now I was going to plug in some old computer speakers I have and I could not find where to plug them into? The only thing that seemed like a candidate is a hole next to where a Mic would plug in on the left side. It is labeled S/PDIF. I have come across that term here but I don't know what it means. Also the speaker plug would not fit in anyway.

2. Is the only way I can plug in external speakers is through a USB port.

3. Do I need to get a special sound card for good quality? How good is the sound card in the ASUS? I've been disappointed in the volume, even when maxed out. For DVD's I had to put the ASUSDVD player in noisy environment to make the sound comfortably audible... but there was distortion in the sound.

4. I want to first purchase really good portable speakers. A couple of months ago I was looking at Altec Lansing XT1 - USB Portable Notebook Speakers and Altec Lansing inMotion IM4

Anyone have any idea which would sound better? Are there any other competitors one would suggest looking at?

 

You plug the speakers into the headphone jack next to the microphone. the sound quality should be decent with onboad audio. Volume should not be an issue. As the speakers will be powered an only needs the audio signal itself from the notebook.If you want the best sound quality you should get a different pcmcia soundcard of usb sound card. but a new sound card will make little difference when using portable speakers. you would need better speakers to tell the difference. http://www.everythingusb.com/logitech_v20_laptop_speakers.html might be decent. I think the XT1s would be good.

 

SPDIF stands for "Sony Philips Digital Interface Format" and yes, that is where you plug most speakers into. As for speakers.. I've owned Creative brand speakers, and I'm very happy with them.