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Gaming Notebooks: The Full Story

Author	Stuart Andrews
Published	22nd Mar 2007

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The other area where your notebook could certainly do with some help is audio. The vast majority rely on a basic Intel HDA specification chipset, and in nearly all cases the built-in speakers are miserable, lightweight, and lacking in power. At the very least, you’ll want some decent headphones. Again, these run the gamut from basic stereo models to high-end, 5.1 surround gaming systems. For ultimate portability and luxury, the likes of Sennheiser, Creative, Shure and Sony have superb in-ear models. While I found the Zen Auvana earbuds Creative sent me did a fine job of a) dishing out high-quality in game audio and b) excluding almost all outside noise. But at £53 to buy, they probably ought to sound better than they do – something that was evident when we reviewed them a while back. With budget in mind, I’d be more tempted by Creative’s own EP-630 in-ear headphones.

The Creative Aurvana's did the trick, but there are better in-ear headphones available.

More traditional closed-cap and open-cap headphones aren’t so portable, but prove more practical for long-term use. Logitech did send us a pair of its premium notebook USB headphones, but with their loose fit and pleasant but slightly lightweight sound, they’re probably better suited to VoIP than hardcore gaming. A decent set of conventional stereo cans will do the job, though the online contingent will want something with a built-in microphone – in which case Sennheiser’s PC160 headset or the much-loved Plantronics DSP-500 should fit the bill. For the best experience, a decent set of 5.1 surround headphones is in order. We’ve been impressed by some (Creative’s HQ-2300D) and underwhelmed by others (Terratec’s Headset Master 5.1). Some actually use six drivers within the headset to create the surround effect, while others use software processing to simulate it. Genius sent us its HS-04U headset, which works with Xear’s Dolby Virtual Headphone software, and while I can’t say the positioning was spot-on – or the surround effect entirely convincing – it did provide immersive in-game audio for a wallet-friendly £25.

The Genius HS-04U headset offers virtual surround and two-way communication at an affordable price.