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XPS 2 Sound Card Choices

post #1 of 5
3/17/05 at 10:20pm
Thread Starter 
I've been looking into buying a new laptop for a couple of months, my old one is junk. After reading up on these forums and around the net, I decided on the XPS 2. I believe I will be happy with it, but after ordering it I noticed I left the stock audio card in it. This will be used at a desk, on the couch and out-and-about, so I figured I didn't need 7 speakers in my den and the card would be under utilized on the go. I admit that most of research went into CPU/GPU and I paid very little attention to audio. But since I 'm not even close to production yet (ordered on Tuesday), I figure it would be easier enough to upgrade the audio now, rather than later.

I searched around and couldn't readily come up with a good thread on the XPS 2 audio options.

So, the question is, are the upgradedd audio cards worth it, especially considring I'll be using the integrated spaekers most of the time?

Thanks for any help and be gentle this is my first post here
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post #2 of 5
3/17/05 at 10:44pm
The audio offerings on Dells site are external Audigy 2 units. If thats good enough for you then go for it. I'd much rather get the Audigy 2 PC Card myself from newegg.
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post #3 of 5
3/17/05 at 10:44pm
The XPS 2 comes with the latest version of the AC'97 codec integrated. The other audio options you see are actually external, they use USB 2.0 or the pc card slot. I would suggest you try out the audio on the XPS 2, and if you need more inputs/outputs, then spend the money on one of those external sound controllers.
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post #4 of 5
3/17/05 at 11:08pm
Thread Starter 
cool, I guess I'll wait and see how it is stock.

Thanks for the quick replies.
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post #5 of 5
3/17/05 at 11:23pm
Yeah, unless you do audio recording/mixing there's really no point...or I guess if you don't have a desktop and want to plant 7 speakers in a room with your XPS2 and use it exclusively in there! I have an old Creative Extigy USB external module I found for a song on Ebay that I use for audio arranging/recording/midi sequencing...it has built in midi IN/OUT ports, optical in, and does a pretty good job with anything I throw at it...I guess the new king is the Audigy 2 ZS PCMCIA card...you can find info on it with a Google search...
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