sound card and speakers kit wanted

iam in the market for a good soundcard and a speaker set .

soundcard:
-i assume that i need a usb soundcard because i have a laptop ( s96j ) with express card slot ,and i havnt found alot of EC sound cards.
-it would be fine if it has a way to connect it to my home theather set (some kind of digital cable ) but this isnt really nessecary .

speakers :
dont really know what i want here mayby 5.1 or 2.1 heard great things about the 2.1 sets of logitech .

iam not into any kind of music bussines so i dont need any professional things.

the muximum budget would be something around 150 to 200€

 

does anybody know a express card soundcard ? as i understand that usb 2.0 sound cards use more cpu power and express soundcards in general give beter sound.

 

Probably, express card for audio is not ready in the market. Probably we have to wait a bit, otherwise, just go for USB 2.0 external audio device is only choice for us.

 

I spent a total of about $150 on my sound card and speaker system. I got the Logitech Z-5300E 5.1 Surround Sounds Speaker System and Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2NX USB Sound Card. They work great the sound is awesome. I picked both of them up off of ebay refurbished from the manufacturer, and haven't had any problems. PM me if you want the ebay usernames.

 

dont you lose cpu power with the use of a usb soundcard\box? those the speakers have any digital input ? how about the soundcard itselfs

 

Your framerate will drop with a USB 2.0 soundcard - how much, I don't know, but considering you have an X1600 and a Core Duo, it shouldn't make too much of a difference.
There are no ExpressCard format sound cards right now unfortunately. The market is slow to adopt that format.

The Intel High Definition sound on your S96J is actually very good - I have the same audio system in my notebook, and recently upgraded to a PC Card Audigy 2 ZS. There is not a big difference at all.

 

Sure the sound card takes a little CPU power, but there aren't any games that I play that use enough to see a difference. Having the Core Duo it takes a lot to get the thing choked up. I don't even notice a difference during gameplay if I'm burning a DVD and playing the game. It makes a difference when loading, but not in framerates. If you're doing a lot of CPU-intensive stuff, it'll make a difference, but most games are much more GPU intensive.

 

so the Intel High Definition sound mayby is good but the speakers arent .and i only have a output for a headset .
so do you suggest that i connect a 2.1 or 5.1 system to that litle plug ?? if that is even possible?

 

The integrated HD sound is decent, but only for the integrated speakers. You can't connect good speakers to it since as you said it only has the one headphone port. You can connect a 5.1 system to it if you get a high quality system such as the Z5300e or Z5500 which will emulate the other channels. It won't sound as good, but you will be able to use it in surround setup.