Multimedia/work laptop with decent speakers

[wolf1438]

Hi,
I am looking for some laptop for 2 totally differend day/night usage. During day i need something for traveling and office work and during night i put my laptop next to me on my bed to watch Netflix.

I have read and seen tons of reviews, but most of them they don't even mention the sound quality. Saddenly i can't rely on overexaggerated manufacturer advertise sites (e.g. i tested HP envy Bang and Oufsen speakers and they sound more like Dank and Awfullsen). So is there any laptop that meet these parameters:

 

- 15.6'-17' laptop with nice color IPS display (touchscreen not needed)

- intel core i5-i7 Kaby lake R or Coffee lake architecture CPU

- at least nvidia MX 150 (1050/TI preffered) GPU for occasional gaming

- full sized keyboard with numpad (must be!)

- more than average stereo speakers preferably not oriented at the bottom of chasis with crispy clear sound and at least some hint of Bass

- it doesn't have to be lightweight slim ultrabook but gaming laptop is OK.

- some upgradeability (2nd RAM slot, free M.2 slot or 2.5' bay). Last notebook was MSI GE60 and after some upgrades he lasted more than 6 years of everyday usage and so i want to use the new one.

- price range ~1500 USD

 

I have seen Linus Asus Zephyrus GM501 review and if there was 1050Ti with 60Hz IPS panel without G-sync config option i would definitely consider to buy it.

 

P.s.: About the sound. Please reply a suggestion only if you had an real opportunity to properly hear the speakers. If it sounds like: "Nah! I better use headphones or external speakers" it means NO for me. I am not audiophile but spend over 1500 bucks on fancy looking beefz machine and then listening to music or watching movie with sound quality like over wet rag or paper carton box is just terrible.

 

[ILiketoMobit]

Dave lee comments on the sound quality of the laptops he reviews. you could check those out.

[genexis_x]

Mind providing some links of online stores in your country?

[wolf1438]

One of the greatest online stores: https://www.alza.sk/EN/ but the problem is they offer is very limited and outdated. For example if you want something new, they have it in stock after 3 months or more when other eu online stores are already selling it.

The second great option is: https://www.amazon.de/?language=en_GB They have better choice of goods, but the pricing is terrible. Once i did a calculation and found out if i order from amazon.com or newegg i still save around 400$ even with shipping and custom fee. For better price comparison my price range on EU stores is ~1500 € with VAT.

[wolf1438]

So far i found this: https://www.asus.com/us/Laptops/ASUS-TUF-Gaming-FX504/overview/

It meets the most of my needs. My only issue with this is eye-catching red color lines. Anyway its the first notebook of new Asus TUF lineup and it offers unique anti-dust fan technology. It could by interesting subject for LTT tech video.

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, wolf1438 said:

So far i found this: https://www.asus.com/us/Laptops/ASUS-TUF-Gaming-FX504/overview/

It has the worst cooling I've ever seen in a gaming laptop. Terrible cooling design. Avoid. Those marketing are just BS

 

I'm searching options for you

[genexis_x]

Is entry level IPS OK to you? It's hard to find something that can meet ALL your requirements within your budget

[wolf1438]

I will use it for work during day sometimes in direct sunlight so at least 250-300 cd max brightness would be great. Also i don't need 100% AdobeRGB coverage - i need quality enough for movie watching - for that IPS preferably because of viewing angles. About the budget. 1500€ is my current dedicated balance. I can increase it to 2500, but i have to wait 1-2 months for another paychecks.

[AskTJ]

My Dad has an old Dell XPS 17, something with an i7 2-4th gen, and 16GB of RAM. No dedicated GPU though.

 

In the link, you can see on the bottom of the keyboard are two speakers. One on either side.

 

When you play music through that at 50 volume, oh my god is it loud.

 

And at full blast, it rivals some bluetooth speakers from brands like Beats.

 

They are SERIOUSLY loud, and no wonder is called the Movie Immersive Laptop from Dell.

 

It's an outdated laptop, but crazy sound. Keep this in mind. <3

[ShadowChaser]

Most dell gaming laptops have forward firing speakers that have good response, and they do get loud enough for a bedroom (75XX and 55XX, both have 1050s and the 75XX can go up to a 1060). Pretty good value but a little bezel heavy imo.

[genexis_x]

5 minutes ago, ShadowChaser said:

Most dell gaming laptops have forward firing speakers that have good response, and they do get loud enough for a bedroom (75XX and 55XX, both have 1050s and the 75XX can go up to a 1060). Pretty good value but a little bezel heavy imo.

This is a good choice, though OP may want the UHD model since the FHD model uses entry level IPS

[genexis_x]

2 hours ago, wolf1438 said:

snip

Dell G5/G7. You need the UHD model since the FHD model has entry level IPS. Max brightness not that high though.

 

MSI GE Raider with CFL-H CPU. Has poor battery life though. Unfortunately it has TN panel, though it's a good one.

 

Generally speaking, most consumer laptops with KBL-R and MX150 don't have good bass speakers. You need to look into gaming laptops, some of them have nice speakers. Especially mid range (GE Raider) and high end stuffs (GT) from MSI since they use subwoofer and lots of speakers. Reviews from NBC have sound quality check.

[wolf1438]

Yeah i was concerning new Dell XPS 15: http://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/laptops-2-in-1s/xps-15-9570-laptop/spd/xps-15-9570-laptop

It comes with 8th gen intel core i5-i7 CPU 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) InfinityEdge Anti-Glare Non-touch IPS 100% sRGB 400-Nits display, GTX 1050Ti GPU

It should be on sale in Europe on 11-15th of May. My only 2 concerns are:

1. Overall quality. I have read a lot of comments people complaining about driver and HW/SW issues and also lot of RMAs, but i think the updated version with 8th gen CPUS will eliminate a lot of these problems.

Missing Numpad: I am working with numbers daily (Excel, accountance sw, etc) and without numpad it would be great slowdown for my workflow. I really don't understand why they cut full sized keyboard on XPS 15 model, instead you got almost 4cm useless plastic edges on each side and saddenly they don't introduce new XPS 17 models

 

As i said at first post, right now i am using MSI GE60 0ND more than 6 years. It survives 3 different OS (Win7, 8 and Win 10 latest build). I upgraded storage to Samsung 850 EVO + additional RAM and it still runs better than some brand new laptops. It never had to be serviced.  It comes with THX audio speakers positioned up (damm good sound quality) and Steelseries KBD (perfect for typing). Unfortunatelly my power plug seems to be worn out by time and i have serious problems to register charging (no problem with adapter, checked).

 

About UHD/FHD - my internet bandwidth does not allow me to watch UHD streams without some loading hiccups so FHD si fine.

I checked Dell G series and they seems pretty good. So far i am concerning G5 vs G7 series. The entry level configuration looks almost the same. Does anyone tested Dell G5/G7 series laptop?

[genexis_x]

1 hour ago, wolf1438 said:

Does anyone tested Dell G5/G7 series laptop?

G7 is basically the same with 7577

[wolf1438]

I saw the reviews and Dell 7XXX series IPS panel is just teribble! Dim washed out colors.

[genexis_x]

4 minutes ago, wolf1438 said:

I saw the reviews and Dell 7XXX series IPS panel is just teribble! Dim washed out colors.

that's why I said you need the UHD model

[wolf1438]

Ok i give up. All new 2017/2018 laptops have same stupid build speaker setup at the bottom of chasis. HP Omen, Acer aspire/predator, Asus ROG, MSI G(X) series, Lenovo Legion, Dell. All the same.  No matter if you put there Dolby, THX, bang or idk what premium speaker with software the fact is, when you put it on soft surface, you hear nothing!

I found maybe 3-4 office oriented laptop models with terrible default TN panel with speakers up, but nothing premium or brand new.

Maybe i should choose 2nd option to buy one with crispy screen and connect bluetooth speaker instead. As it looks, it is my only option. Its strange, 6 years ago it wasn't such a problem to find laptop with pointing up speakers.

[Tarun10]

10 minutes ago, wolf1438 said:

Ok i give up. All new 2017/2018 laptops have same stupid build speaker setup at the bottom of chasis. HP Omen, Acer aspire/predator, Asus ROG, MSI G(X) series, Lenovo Legion, Dell. All the same.  No matter if you put there Dolby, THX, bang or idk what premium speaker with software the fact is, when you put it on soft surface, you hear nothing!

I found maybe 3-4 office oriented laptop models with terrible default TN panel with speakers up, but nothing premium or brand new.

Maybe i should choose 2nd option to buy one with crispy screen and connect bluetooth speaker instead. As it looks, it is my only option. Its strange, 6 years ago it wasn't such a problem to find laptop with pointing up speakers.

Yeah just get Bluetooth speakers or headphone you will get way better audio. Also the Bang and Olufsen on my HP Envy x360 15 gets really loud and fills my living room with ease. For movie watching its good enough with a little EQ tuning especially on Netflix. Music is okay but bass heavy music sounds bad. The panels on the laptop are really good IPS panels but they are reflective. I think the Envy 17 comes with an MX150 not sure about pricing.