Please, opinions on my Laptop Home Audio Solution......

[buildingit]

Hello,

I just bought a 17" Toshiba Satellite 2.2 GHz (AMD) Laptop yesterday. I haven't really used it yet because I was so horrified by the aweful sound!

OK, so here is my solution of the moment. I would really appreciate your opinions on this- I am not an advanced user. And if you have any other ideas, please let me know. It is not too late for me to return this laptop to buy another.


Just one more thing- a Laptop for home use for me means portability- otherwise why not buy another PC? So I want to use my laptop everywhere so I don't want to be carting around a slew of speakers with me!


SOLUTION:

Step 1:
I need to buy a wireless modem anyway. So buy a N gigabit modem (the expensive type). This way I will be assured it can beam through my concrete walls. I will buy this and just test it with the internet.

Step 2
Assuming the wireless works well, then I can also assume it will work equally well broadcasting music played from ITunes on my Laptop??
So I buy an APPLE AIRPORT WIRELESS thing - $99. Plug it into an electrical outlet near my Technics receiver and the other end into the reciever's headphone jack.

Then somehow, when I play music on my Laptop, it will beam the music out over the wireless network (I think I first hook the Airport to my Laptop for a setup of sorts)


??????????????????????????

Do you think it will work?
My Technics reciever is already hooked to a box that controls speakers all over my apartment- so the speakers already exist.

I just thought- plugging the airport into my heapdphone jack must be wrong- the headphone jack is an output not an input. Plug it iinto some type of input.

**********************************************************

PS:

Then down the road, I found this amazing speaker for portable use:
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/no...ection=gallery

but it isn't available in Canada yet.

And as for hooking the sound up to someone else's stero- I'll just use a headphone/RCA adapter.

[glc]

I'm having a REAL hard time following all this, but do you have a desktop computer on your network? If so, you can simply connect it to your receiver and play music with it.

Then, you can remotely control this desktop computer with your laptop using Remote Desktop or a 3rd party application such as VNC.

All you need for a network is a wireless router to hook up to your cable modem.

[buildingit]

Yes, I have the same PC I built here in 1992- I am still using it, which is both amazing and embarassing but I haven't needed anything new.

And all this time, it's Audio-out line has been plugged into my Technics reciever. It all works like a charm and sounds great.

The problem is that my hard drive died. I am on a temporary old slow hard drive now and Itunes really really boggs down. Also- with the new Itunes it's even worse. This PC is on its last legs. Plus, I want a portable laptop.

This pc doesn't even have wireless capability so I don't have a router. I will need one for the new laptop I bought.

So, I think, just assume all I have is the laptop. Even if I keep the pc, it doesn't solve how to play DVD's on my Laptop, I mean, the sound is THAT bad.

So I need decent sound from the laptop. And I want my laptop to be portable.

The home way is for the sound to be wirelessly transmitted to my Technics reciever using the Apple Airport System, but I don't know if it will work. I also don't know if I need to buy a wireless router in addition to the Airport.

I'm sorry, does this still make no sense? I guess it would help if I knew what I was talking about

[Spools]

Looks like the Airport Express will work the way you want as long as you also purchase the stereo connection kit. Then in Itunes you choose the stereo receiver as your speakers (see here).

[buildingit]

Thank you! I am going to go to the Apple Store this week to sort this out. Thank you for the link to the cables I will need to buy- that increases the price by 50%! I didn't know that.

I am beginning to think that this will not work with DVD playback though- I don't think so?


Also I'm confused over whether I really need to buy a router in addition to the Airport- I don't think so.

If no one knows or replies, I'll post later in the week after I have been to the Apple store.

Thank you again, for all your help, both of you.

[glc]

You have to connect your modem to *something* to have wireless access to the Internet with your laptop.

[buildingit]

I thought it will connect to the Airport....

(lol, gottsa love Apple's lingo for these gadgets)

[quartet-man]

From what I see with a quick glance, the airport express is just part of the network to allow sharing, it has nothing to do with the internet signal. It just appears to plug in. You have to get an internet signal somewhere.

[Spools]

From what I see on this page, the Airport Express works as a limited router when connected to a broadband modem. 10 wireless users can all connect to the network.

I'd suggest paying very close attention to how you're going to work the physical connections with this system. Apple makes it sound very easy cheesy but there are some caveats here. The device needs a wired connection to your modem so if you don't have cat5e running through your walls, you'll need to place it in the same room as the modem. Because of the wired connection from the Apple device to the stereo, you'll need to have the stereo in the same room as the modem.

[buildingit]

Thank you

Yes, I plan to plug the Airport into the electrical socket just beside my Technics Reciever. That is where my cable modem is now anyway. Right now, that is also where my fixed (& dying) PC is- it is my entertainment hub.

I am a bit confused over the difference bewteen the Airport Express (100$) and the Airport Extreme

I am wondering about speed of wireless transmission- does it depend on the quality of the router? Maybe I will ask that over in the wireless forum.

My plan now is to buy the Airport and just use it as a router for a couple of days- to see if the internet works at least.

I do get the feeling that the Airport may be a little dicey in function.

[glc]

Please don't keep opening threads - keep it here.

The Airport is not an IP sharing device - you need some sort of router to connect more than one machine to the modem and have them all get IP addresses.