How To Enhance Sound Output of Your Laptop

Despite the arrival of more portable computing devices, millions of users still swear by their notebooks. You may use your laptop for various purposes, including media playback and entertainment. While newer laptops generally offer great video output and acceptable viewing angles, the sound output quality may vary drastically. Some laptops, notably the top end models have powerful speakers that can fill a mid-sized room. However, several budget laptops still have weak audio output that. Watching a latest action flick on your laptop’s bright HD screen while struggling to hear what the characters are saying leads to a half baked experience.

sound output

Ways To Improve Sound Output of Your Laptop

If you are not happy with the default sound output of your laptop, do not lose hope. There are several methods that can be used to improve its sound output and loudness.

  1. Fine tuning Windows sound settings– Laptops running Windows generally have similar sound settings- as far as the software is concerned. You may access the control panel in Windows OS to tweak these settings and get better audio output quality. You can enable or disable settings like ‘Loudness equalization’ and ‘virtual surround’ in software sound settings. However, do not expect drastic changes in sound quality.
  2. Updating laptop’s audio drivers– Whether your laptop has on-board audio chip or it is fitted with discrete audio card, updating the drivers is essential. Updated audio drivers ensure your laptop offers optimal sound output.
  3. Enabling sound technology– Some laptop manufactures like HP and Lenovo use third party and licensed audio technology to improve sound output of their laptop models. The audio enhancement technologies like ‘Dolby Atmos’ and ‘Beats Audio’ can be found in selected models from such brands. In most instances, they offer software for utilizing such technologies. If your laptop does not come preloaded with such apps, it is recommended that you install them or download the apt drivers from the web.
  4. Suitable media player app– This may sound very basic. However, you may try using third party media player apps instead of sticking to the default Windows Media Player for movie or music playback needs. VLC player, for example, lets you boost the sound level by 200 percent. There are several other third party apps that come with enhanced audio settings like surround sound, audio profiles and equalizer.
  5. Positioning the laptop right– In some laptops, the speakers are fitted in a way that the grills or vents may get blocked when you place them on surfaces like a bed or cushion. This results in muffled audio output even at the highest level. You may use a laptop stand or pad for ensuring the speakers do not get blocked and the sound output is loud.
  6. Using external laptop speakers– Sometimes you may find the inbuilt speakers on your laptop are just weak and changing apps or tweaking software settings do not yield much benefit. In such instances, you may resort to using external laptop speaker units. These speakers are portable and usually draw power from the laptop’s USB port. Of course, you may buy a sound bar for the same purpose. Sound bars look sleek and they can be fitted atop the laptop’s display.

Where It All Leads To

You may need to try one or all of the aforesaid methods to enhance the sound output of your laptop. It may not require incurring extra expense. You may also read the user guide and explore the driver CD or DVD provided with the laptop. In case you buy an external speaker unit or sound bar for your laptop, choose wisely and pick the models that have favorable reviews.