Sound/Speaker Quality for T400/T500

hello everyone,

my T500 has arrived! however it is sitting at my house about one and a half hours away in houston! so i will be able to use it on thursday night so i will post up some nice pics.

im a pretty big music person so i just wanted to know how the speaker quality of the T500? and also is the onboard sound card pretty nice?

or else i am considering getting the ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio card.

looking forward to some responses!

 

Sorry to break it to you, but I'm betting the sound is going to STINK.

The t400 review said that the sound basically had no volume, just sound. You will have to use headphones.

 

well, i dont know about no volume, but the quality of the sound leaves a lot to be desired. its very tinny with no deep notes at all. im picking up a logitech soundbar

 

Can they be replaced? How hard is it to get to the speakers?

 

Easy enough to get to the speakers, but I'd be really surprised if you found anything you could replace them with that would be any better. The physics of the space would pretty much preclude any bass.

The audio is about as good as I'd expect from something designed as a business laptop. It's not specifically aimed at the consumer/home market.

 

For good sound, go with the media oriented IdeaPad, which even has a built-in woofer! For thinkpad, the speakers are basically for "You Got Mail!"

Get a SENNHEISER earphone and you'll get decent sound from any laptops.

 

Just got my t400.

I am SURPRISED with the sound. It's very audible, actually it's loud. Set it to Max and put a song on and you can definitely hear it like in a different room.

 

Totally agree!! Speakers impressed me too although lacking of bass as usual.

 

I never understood the point of speakers in a business notebook, they're gonna be mediocre anyway, so why not put a good sound card in and just take out the speakers? Use headphones or external speakers.

 

The fact is that the sound card is already pretty decent in any current laptops. It's just the speaker, limited not by cost but by the form factor. If you hook up any major brand notebook sound output to a stereo/receiver, it will play as good as any hi-fi CD/DVD player.

 

is that really true? in that case i wont need that Sound Blaster Express Card at all. i just need some good logitech speakers.

and i already have those amazing sennheisers that every1 has.

 

pc sound card sound quality are usually all around the same level(integrated realteks to midrange x-fi) unless you go really expensive, and then you start getting into external DACs and headphone amps

x2 for just using a decent pair of headphones


oh here's a question for you, does the t400 have a digital audio output?

 

How is the T400 sound card for recording *the mic input* I have a T400 and plan on recording class lectures but is not sure if I should just buy a mic or a USB mic with a MIC sound card. Is the T400 MIC input sufficient?

 

bump......

 

It's monoraul only, but it should be more than sufficient for class lectures.

The T400 has a built in MIC (on the palmrest or bezel I believe), but this is really only meant for video-conferencing. I would recommend you pick up a decent desktop and/or array microphone that you can plug into the 1/8" jack. You should place this in from of the computer if possible to minimize keyboard noise.

The easiest way to record class lectures is MS OneNote. You can record while taking notes, and when you play the recording back later it will automatically move to the point you were typing (very effective for reviewing). Alternatively, Audacity and any number of programs can record class lectures.

 

Ye, I've tried using the Mic on the T400 but it wasn't good enough. So I am deciding to buy an omnidirectional mic for my thinkpad. My question is whether or not the sound card on the T400 is sufficient? What do you think?

 

bump.......

 

I have a W500 and the sound quality is excellent for a notebook. It is quite loud and I don't think that you'd have any complaints vs the competition. I find that the sound quality is just as good as the macbook pro's speakers.

This is in stark contrast to the last generation T60/T61 which truly had horrible speakers.