sound cards for notebooks

this is your best bet Audigy 2NX, remember is external,

Yeah, you can't get anything internal sound card wise... but an external one for when you are at home watching DVD's, playing games or music should float your boat. You might wanna invest into some speakers you can hook it up to as well, you won't realise the full potential of any external sound card you hook up to it through the inbuilt speakers.
stu

Unless you really feel that you need a huge external USB powered sound card, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Indigo series!

http://www.echoindigo.com/

Specifications:
Type II Cardbus interfaceStereo Headphone Output, 1/8” mini jack (x2)
Supports true 24 bit, 96kHz audio
High quality digital to analog converters
Motorola DSP
High quality headphone amplifier
Analog volume control knob
Greater than 111dB Dynamic Range (A-weighted)
Better than 0.003% THD+n @ -3dBFS, 1 Vrms output level
Frequency response of 10Hz – 22kHz, ±0.25dB
Windows: Supports WDM, Wave/MME, DirectSound, ASIO, and GSIF
Mac OS X: Supports CoreAudio

If you need audio in AND out (ie both speaker and microphone ports), definitely check out the Indigo IO.

http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/IndigoIO/index.php

Specifications:
1 stereo 1/8" analog input*
1 stereo 1/8" analog output*
Supports full duplex 2 channel in, 2 channel out operation
High quality headphone amp
Analog volume control knob for output
Supports true 24 bit, 96 kHz audio
100 MHz 24 bit Motorola DSP
Powered by your notebook computer
Includes 6 foot adapter cable for RCA and 1/4" connections
Type II Cardbus slot required

I have the IO and love it; It's awesome. I'm not sure about the software for the normal Indigo, but the IO has a spiff control board that allows 8 virtual outputs for different apps among other neat features.

Are they SB compatible? Looks great if you're into audio editing or DJing, but for a lot of people the question is... will Games work with it?

I honestly don't understand why you think they wouldn't work with games.

The answer is yes, it works with everything, especially games and dvds. When you have it inserted it takes the place of your onboard SB -- your normal IOs will NOT work, the card takes their place as a full SB.

Hint: Supports true 24 bit, 96kHz audio. That equals full quality sound for your DVDs (ie not crippled AC97 that's preinstalled).

To be straight forward, I keep this thing plugged in at all times, for all purposes, and often use it with sennheiser bucket headphones -- and I've never heard audio so good.

On the IO, when you record using the input you won't get a stupid clicking sound from the hard drive (which is the reason I got the card in the first place. When I was recording with the normal mic input there were hd clicks in my sound).

Note: after looking at the Audigy link above, keep in mind that the Indigo does not offer 5.1 or 7.1 output options, but is more portable because it just slides right into the card slot. If you want good sound on the go, get Indigo, if you want theatre sound and don't take the lappy off the desk much, then perhaps an external USB sound option is better for you.

According to tomshardware:

http://www.tomshardware.com/video/20040223/index.html

the audio 2nx is the best external usb sound card out there, but at a price. The price is at the expense of system resources. Their testing showed that the audio 2nx is one of the best out there, however:

"To sum up, the Audigy 2NX is currently the most advanced USB sound card on the market and the one that meets most requirements - provided the computer it is plugged into can cope."

The question i have to anyone who might own this (since i am considering getting one myself) is do you see any degradation in the performance of any games with this plugged in, if this sound card is in fact a system hog?

Is the Indigo card web purchase only?

Of course not

http://www.echoaudio.com/Sales/USA/

However, as always, it's quite a bit cheaper when you dig it up online, especially ebay:

http://search.ebay.com/search/search...y=indigo+audio

Because on a quick perusal I didn't see SB compatibility listed, and a lot of pro and semi-pro audio cards for desktops aren't SB compatible.

Keep in mind I did not at any point say "It can't play games." I was just asking if it could. No need to get the out....

I honestly just didn't understand where you were coming from

'k.