Sound cards and notebooks

Hi peeps. I am gonna buy a laptop for music processing for my uni course. I can never seem to find any information about sound cards when I look at various notebook specs online.

I am going to be running cubase SX3 and using various midi synths. On my current PC there is a huge delay when I play a note on my midi keyboard and when the sound comes out (over a second delay, which makes fluent playing impossible), which I have been told is due to my old cheap sound card. And all the synth sounds that are generated are really bad quality. I just dont want to have the same situation when I buy a new laptop. Currently I'm looking at the Gateway® P-173X FX Edition, but cant see any mention of a sound card. So I'm a bit confused.

Questions: Do laptops generally have sound cards? Do you even need sound cards nowadays, or is it all done virtually? I dont have a clue.

 

all notebooks have sound cards. Whether they will meet your needs is another matter. This is what it says about the Gateway you are looking at:

High-Definition Audio- 2 Channel, Built-In speakers, embedded microphone, headphone/speaker jack, and microphone jacks

Had to dig much farther to get this

SigmaTel 92HD71B Dual SPDF

some more info for you to read up on

http://www.idt.com/products/getDoc.cfm?docID=18423264

 

Make sure soundcard has Audio Stream Input/Output ASIO support. Or else you will get the delays you are so familiar with.

 

Why is it so hard to learn about the sound card when laptop shopping? I've been looking at the xps m1330... I have no idea what the sound card is...how do I find out?

 

Thanks for finding it. I can never seem to find sound card info, cheers

....although

I dont see 'Audio Stream Input/Output ASIO support' on that info page for the SigmaTel 92HD71B Dual SPDF. Doesn't even mention ASIO on there, should I be concerned about that?

I have got the money to buy a new sound card, so I'm not too bothered if its easy to replace and I can fit a slightly more up market one to produce better sounds and avoid latency issues. But I dont know how easy replacing sound cards are, or how to find out what sound cards will be compatable with what laptops, so some advise would be helpful here again.

Thanx in advance

 

One reason why notebook soundcard info is hard to find is they all basically do the same thing and are all weak. Soundcards are integrated in notebooks and not upgradeable. Here is a link to ASIO info. If you read you will see why concern if you don't have.

 

Zeuz check this link out. Looks like might give ASIO support to your card? It was created buy someone with a notebook who was having issues. It might be the answer to your situation. As I suspect many people have the same issue. Read through.