TypeII Cardbus - soundcard?

[Ethel]

My laptop has this expansion slot and I want to know if it would be worth my while investing in a sound card that fits in this slot. They do seem very pricey, but I do listen to the radio and all my music through the laptop, via headphones.

Any opinions and recommendations welcome.

[terambulan]

If the sound is restricted to the lappy speakers then I wouldn't recommend it. Lappy speakers are small and rudimentary.

Cable to extended speakers would be an advantage. Tesco's are doing an offer at �9.99 for small/portable speakers, plug in thru microphone port.

[Ethel]

terambulan - thanks for that but I have to listen through headphones

[ChuckFickens]

Unless you are a true audiophile using top quality headphones I would very much doubt you would notice much of a difference.

the standard built in sound card on all of my laptops sounds fine when played through a decent sound system. (though the sony gets very faint interference from the hard drive)

I'd save your money on the sound card and get that netbook you want so much :)

[Ethel]

Stop tempting me, chuck

My headphones were hugely expensive - it's the only way I can hear music and tv, so they had to be good.

I shall save my money for something else.

What shall I do with the empty cardbus? God hates a vacuum and I hate a wasted slot

[fo3nix]

I'd agree with Chuck too. You won't notice a difference, especially if you're listening to radio through it (the BBC's streams, for example, are of lower quality than the built in card).

I'm the proud owner of an EEE 1000H. A little larger than the really tiny ones, but so much easier to type on. And still incredibly portable. I'd buy that if I were you! (Or some similar netbook.) Install some GNU/Linux distros on it, throw the Xandros rubbish it may come with, and play about with it!

[Ethel]

Ok, fo3nix.

I would really love one of those ultramobile netbooks, and they're cheap enough.

The problem is, I never go out. Or I never go out and need to take a laptop with me, to be precise. I can't justify yet enough computer in the house.

Thinking about it - would be handy for when I'm in hospital. They let me take a charger and wotnot.....

[fo3nix]

Ethel, sounds like a perfect excuse to me!

I'd try Ubuntu with its gnome interface, and perhaps add kubuntu-desktop from the synaptic package manager too. That'll add KDE to your session list, letting you try another interface available.