How is the audio on Sager laptops?

Hi,

My girlfriend is looking for a new laptop and one of the bigger factors for her is the audio - I'm aware that laptop speakers are not ideal, but that's what she'll be using. So I'm interested in hearing what people have to say about Sager laptop speakers - Good, bad, etc?

Also, as a #2 question follow-up, would the sound card upgrades be a worthwhile investment? Would there be a noticeable improvement in audio through the laptop speakers or would it really only be worth it if she were using headphones?

Just looking through the models available at xoticpc - if I went the Sager route we'd probably be looking at either the SAGER NP2650 or SAGER NP7358 (for the matte screen, and lower end discreet GPU).

I appreciate any feedback you guys can provide!

 

Im not familiar with the sound on the two particular models, but I haven't heard any Sager laptop that sounded close to good.

I just got a new Alienware 17 though, and I must say, jesus christ that thing goes loud. At 10% volume its louder than my 2012 MacBook Pro, and at 20% louder than any other laptop I have ever heard. At 100% it is uncomfortably loud if your sitting next to it, and it will very easily fill up a small room.

Note, they still sound, objectively, 100% awful. It's still just laptop speakers, they just happen to be a million times better than everything else.

Edit: As you point out yourself, I don't think the upgraded sound cards will do much difference to the actual speakers in the laptop, only if you were to connect it to some headphones/speakers.

 

As ThisIsBrutus did state, sound quality is purely subjective.

I have the Sager 8258-S and I find the sound quality clear, crisp, and loud enough where if I turn it up above 75% it drowns out the TV where I can't hear it.

At 100% it also will quite nicely fill sound in a small room.

For 2.1 laptop speakers (2 + 1 subwoofer) I'd say it's not horrible, but it's not as good as external speakers or headphones would be either.

Would it be sufficient for the girlfriend? Hard to say. It's entirely on her own preferences, what she considers 'clear', and 'loud'.

I'm not in anyway an audiophile, so people who day-in-day-out listen to FLAC recordings and nitpick the dulcet voices of a tenor singer, or the soprano opera notes or even the high-reverb of a string draw will likely nitpick any type of speakers and say, without reservation, that 'all laptop speakers suck'. And to them, they likely will.

I've heard the laptops with the best speakers are the MSI branded laptops; however, they apparently also have overheating issues if you push the GPU and CPU.

Alienware have good speakers, but they (reportedly) distort quite badly at louder volumes.

Sager have good speakers, but are not as loud as some of the other distributors, but do tend to keep clarity throughout the ranges (depending on the model).

For a laptop, I don't think you'll ever get 'great'. It all boils down to what is acceptable to you, and to the girlfriend that wants the laptop.

Overall, as long as:

1. she's not intending to do an large room presentation and drown sound in the room
2. she's not a zealot audiophile who wants lossless sound quality of FLAC or record level recording
3. she's not expecting true 7.1 digital surround sound from laptop speakers

Then, it should be more than sufficient for her needs.

Otherwise, likely laptop speakers, regardless of the model, isn't going to cut it for her.

 

The speakers are not terrible, but I never use them at home. If the loudness of speakers is what you care about, these do fine, but for sound quality, I'd say invest in better speakers. The sub for example provides inadequate bass, but considering the size, I'd say its not as bad as I thought.

 

Sager/Clevo speakers are notoriously bad. The OP would have to look at feedback regarding the 2 specific models he is considering to see if they moved on from the gimmicky Onkyo nonsense.

Saying he'd be fine as long as he's not a "zealot audiophile" or wants to drown an auditorium on any Sager speakers either indicates breathtaking ignorance or wilful misrepresentation.

 

The speakers get you by but headphones/external speakers will do a lot better.

 

You apparently missed the part where I said I own a Sager 8258-S... one with Onkyo nonsense.

I have, from first hand experience, drowned out a small room with sound, and I find the speakers more than fine, the sound reproduction excellent, and quite well. I'm also far from tone deaf, have a good range of listening for music, and feel that short of wanting to have speakers blasting you into the seat and dangerous levels of sound, it is more than sufficient. Are they top quality? Of course not. Are they the worst quality? Of course not.

I also find your breathtaking ignorance or willful misrepresentation of my own comments rude, insulting, and rather a bad form of immature baiting.

If you can't provide any valid comments other than 'it sucks' or 'it's great', or regurgitating a short snippit of what others said to validate a rather obvious slander fest, then frankly don't bother us with useless rhetoric. You're wasting everyone's time, including mine just now for stooping so low and replying to you.

 

I actually think my Onkyo speakers are good - for gaming. They are terrible for audio but for gaming, they're just fine. They're loud enough that they drown out my fans on max which is pretty impressive considering how loud the fans are and I can't have the laptop above 50% on the speakers most of the time because it will actually hurt my ears.

Seriously, nobody that calls themselves an audiophile on any level will be happy with the speakers in ANY laptop. The speakers shouldn't be a make or break decision when it comes to purchasing a machine, look at the other merits and get some great speakers or headphones.

 

I just returned a Sager P150sm, with the "onkyo nonsense" and the sound in that thing was honestly really terrible. It distorted very easily when it got to the max of not-loud-enough, and the worst thing was the speaker/stereo balance. It sounded completely off to the right, and I couldnt really figure out why. Probably due to the off-center subwoofer. It was so bad I had to turn the balance to 70% left and 30% right, which resulted in even lower volume and more distortion, or turn the subwoofer off and get even flatter sound.


Edit: Also just to make this clear. You mention audio being one of the biggest factors for her. Obviously it is not since she even mentions it in regard to laptop speakers. Im not an audiophile by any means, but laptop speakers are notoriously bad. And she clearly knows nothing about audio, which is totally cool - It's not that, but please make her understand that she either a) cares for audio and will get something external, or b) doesn't give a damn like everybody else. My point is, in either case, don't go for a laptop with better sound than another laptop, because It will still sound terrible.
Even with the Alienware I mentioned before, which is literally 10 times better than any other laptop speaker I have heard, I still WANT to go get a pair of headphones, a blutooth speaker or something like that, I just don't NEED to anymore, because it is actually able to drown out the noise from cars driving by my window, unlike whatever tablet/computer/phone I have tried with previously.

 

I have owned 2 clevos so far, the first one was of the earlier P150HM series, wich had TERRIBLE sound (2.1 with some tiny subwoofer on the bottom). The whole HM series had an improperly set up crossover; there was no real bass whatsoever coming out of the headphone jacks OR the built-in subwoofer. It was like the spectrum from 80 herz down was completely cut off.

I even thought the subwoofer was not working, because there was nothing like bass coming out of the laptop. But then I placed my ear to the bottom opening where the sub was located - and i heard it was actually playing. But again - the sound was as if the thing was a regular laptop speaker - no bass was coming out, just some muddy mid-range annoying sound.

Then my second clevo (which had no subwoofer, but had 2 stereo ONKYO speakers) - again terrible sound from those. BUT at least this time, the headphone outs were outputting crystal-clear sound with good bass (it was working properly). Built-in speakers were not only sounding badly, they werent even loud enough to really do any good for presentations and such.

Righ now, im on a MSI that I got 3 months ago. I've got to say....I have never heard (or imagined) that a laptop can have an audio system THIS GOOD. It has 2.1 built in DYNAUDIO speakers, which output crystal-clear and powerful sound, with an actual subwoofer than you can HEAR working! The sound is absolutely amazing. Nothing that I've heard (coming out of portable audio) comes close to this.

So, thats my 0,02$ - the Clevo series hasnt improved on the audio part of things and right about now, they sound terrible if you are used to listening to good headphones or a good home stereo. Personally, I'd listen to my MSI's built-in speakers if I was travelling, but anything lower than that is just not working for me.

 

I think the audio of P157sm is really terrible. almost there is no bass in the model.. even the ADS says it is powered by ONKYO speaker..(but if you use headphone . it is ok)
I also used p151em, it is more terrible , there is complete no bass, even when you use headphone.
The speaker of MSI GT60/70 is good. I have used gt70 for one year, really satisfied about this model, except for the size and weight.

 

Thanks for the input. I'll have a look around the MSI forums and see what people are saying.