Hooking up 5.1 speakers to my laptop

[Slightdust]

Recently I purchased a Lenovo ThinkPad t61p, and when I'm at home I hook it up to external monitor, mouse, and keyboard, thus turning it into a computer tower. The only problem I have right now is that there is no way for me to hook up my 5.1 speaker set to it, since the ThinkPad, like many other laptops, only has one audio out port.

Is there a converter\adapter I can buy to connect the 3 speaker cables (green, black, orange) to one cable? Something like this maybe? surround sound adaptor

While I'm at it, is it worth it to invest in a docking station because every time I come home I just hook the laptop up as a computer tower. If so, what are my choices of thinkpad docking stations?

Thanks!

 

[slugg]

I just happen to own the ThinkPad T61 and I do practically the same thing with it every single day. The only difference is that I use 2.1 speakers, so I don't have the speaker problem you're experiencing. I do know of a perfect solution for you, however. First off, that "surround sound adapter" that you provided a link to does absolutely nothing. It will not magically convert your stereo audio to 5 surround channels. All it does is split the audio into 5 channels, all while degrading audio quality. You don't want that! You want true, crisp, surround sound right? What you need is an external sound card. Plug your 5.1 speakers into this, then plug that into your ThinkPad. This solution will produce real 5.1 audio and still yield great sound quality. You'll get the most out of your speakers this way.

I personally prefer the use of a docking station, however you don't absolutely need it. I have my charger and all my peripherals (monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, ethernet, printer, mp3 player, etc) plugged into the docking station. All I have to do is place the laptop onto the docking station and it's ready to go. I don't have to fiddle with cables, plus it also charges the laptop. I love it for the convenience.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask

 

[Slightdust]

Ah that's great! Thank you slugg! I'm thinking about purchasing one.

What kind of docking station do you use? And what are the choices?

 

[slugg]

There are 3 docking solutions for the T61 that I know of.

The cheapest one is the "essential mini dock," or something to that effect. I own this docking station. It has a VGA out, USB port hub, PS/2 port, and an ethernet port. You must use your existing charger with this dock, or purchase an aftermarket one (Lite-On makes one for about $50).

The "advanced mini dock" is more expensive, but also has (in addition to the above mentioned features) a DVI port, audio ports (same 2.1 audio from the laptop), 56k modem port, serial and parallel ports, an extra ps/2 port, and it comes with its own power adapter.

Finally, the king of all docking stations is the "advanced docking station." In addition to all the other features, it also has an Ultrabay. This lets you add an additional optical drive or hard drive to your laptop while docked. It also has a PCI-Express slot to add things like video cards, sound cards, TV-Tuners, or whatever else you can fit in there. Finally, it has a 6-in-1 media card reader.

To view these in detail, click here.

Hope this helps