Seperate headphone and microphone jack confusion

TheSpoopyGhost · October 16, 2019

My friend asked me to build him a new desktop computer that replaced his old laptop, but when it was finished he was complaining that he couldn't plug his headset into the headphone jack and use the microphone. After explaining that the two are separate jacks and one gives output and the other takes input, he brought out his laptop with two separate jacks for headphone and microphone, then proceeded to plug the headset into the headphone jack only and his microphone worked. I'm not sure on the exact model of the laptop he was using, but he was using an MSI stealth laptop with a GTX 1060 that cost around $1000. What would explain why he was able to plug his headset into the headphone jack and have it work? I can post pictures later today, but I'm not in my dorm room at the moment.

TempestCatto · October 16, 2019

He needs something like this: https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Headphone-Splitter-Nylon-Braided-Smartphone/dp/B07MH4T1RD/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

The laptop probably had a combination jack in addition to a dedicated mic jack. That's the only logical thing I can think of.

tikker · October 16, 2019

2 hours ago, TheSpoopyGhost said:

What would explain why he was able to plug his headset into the headphone jack and have it work?

On laptops the 3.5mm headphone port is usually a audio/mic combo port. The dedicated mic port can be used if you have a dedicated microphone, for example.