T61 sound quality

Hi,

I am thinking of purchasing a T61 as I need a light, robust and reliable notebook for fieldwork. However, I need some advice about the sound please. I am completely ignorant about soundcards etc, but I will be using the computer to play birdsong in experiments...therefore I need to know how the audio chip that the T61 comes with compares with other soundcards in other laptops - is it ok? What technical info do I need in order to compare soundcards, ie what makes a good sound card/chip?!

Also, if the T61 chip isn't so good, would it be possible to instal a separate soundcard at a later date, and if so what kind would be possible/advisable? I am aware there are comments about low volume and small/poor quality speakers, but as long as if I plug in external speakers the sound quality is good thats fine. Its the quality of the sound chip which concerns me.

Many thanks for any help

 

Its fine, as is pretty much any other integrated sound card. For basic playback, sound tech has been perfected for a long time now. When someone says "Wow! This new sound card makes my music sound better!" what that really means is "This new sound card is running DSPs to alter the sound, and now its different"

For playing recorded media and such, its going to sound 99.99% the same as anything else out there when output to speakers.

 

I agree with ocellaris. I have no problem using my T61 with external speakers. I have a pair of Altec Lansing that are USB powered that have nice sound but are still weak in volume. So use powered external ones. The built-in speakers give a thin sound and the volume is way below that of other notebooks I've worked with.

 

i've had very annoying problems with Vista and sound on my T61. It glitches every so often.

XP doesn't though.