Speakers on laptops

I always buy Ultrabooks, never bigger than about 13", so that guarantees the speakers will be on the bottom. But, on a laptop, I'm only relying on the speakers to tell me I got a new email, I'm not watching a Metallica concert through anything built in.

My audio issues on Teams meetings through the built in speakers are due to the person talking, not the cheap arse speakers put in the wrong place. I do spend a lot of meetings with my colleagues from Southeast Asia with my ear pointed towards the laptop trying to hear WTF certain people are saying.

Earbuds? Wired or BT? Far easier fix than returning a laptop.

I recently started using a bluetooth speaker from amazon.

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Your picture is literally bitching about speakers being on the top of the laptop. What in the Karen are you actually wanting?

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if you read my post, i mentioned it. the speakers/dual set of holes on top of the laptop are both non-functional. i'm not even sure what they're for

the attached pictures show that the speakers where the sound is emitted from are on the underside of the laptop, which is beyond sh*tty

sorry for not attaching this earlier

News flash. Laptop speakers have shitty audio.

Heehee!! Shamon!

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on an Envy?

LINK


There are speakers connected to those grills, no idea why sound isn't coming out of them.

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yeah, it's an HP Envy. this one

that's what i figured. makes no sense as to why those aren't speakers. no sound is coming from them, only the 2 bottom ones on the underside. super annoying

i'm trying to figure out their purpose if they're not speakers

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makes no sense as to why those aren't speakers. no sound is coming from them, only the 2 bottom ones on the underside.

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The description says dual speakers and there are only 2 bottom ones.

Perhaps the top holes have a cooling function.

Designed to be placed on a flat surface and not your lap. On a flat surface the sound is suppose to bounce off the surface. Whether you agree that is better, that seems to be the thought process

Assuming top holes are for intake and the speaker grills probably exhaust some heat.

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so it's called a laptop, but it's NOT meant to placed on top of my lap? hahaha

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Early laptops produced very little heat, because the components were very weak. As laptops have become more powerful, they put our far more heat, and they (generally) need active cooling solutions. Early solutions had intake on the bottom and exhaust on the back. And no matter how many times people were told not to put the laptop on a soft surface that would restrict airflow, they wouldn’t listen. So, most solutions now either have intake and exhaust in the back (less than ideal, as hot air cycles through), or intake on the top or sides and exhaust on the back.

There are only so many surfaces in a modern laptop, all of which are needed for cooling, I/O, and audio, and there simply isn’t enough to go around. Considering the prevalence of headphones among laptop users, foolproof cooling takes priority over foolproof audio.

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thanks for the detailed explanation. makes some sense. keeping the device functional for a longer period of time is obviously more important, just wish that there was a way to not sacrifice other basic functions oh well. thanks again for explaining

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There’s a potential savior: USB-C.

For the last several years, laptops have been dealing with I/O glut. They were being expected to have several USB-A ports, Ethernet, SD, headphone/mic port, and a display out, usually HDMI. On a thin laptop, there isn’t enough height to stack them, so they have to be side by side. And because of how thin laptops are now, you can really only put them on the back third. There just wasn’t room for anything else.

With the rise of USB-C, there might be a light at the end of the tunnel. While it’s not the best at any one thing, it’s very, very good at everything. And the connector is very small. I’m hoping we see models start to fully sell out and just put two or three USB-C ports and call it a day, leaving room for highly efficient active cooling systems as well as competent sound systems.