How to add sound to lappy

[YoungPoodah]

Hi all,
I've been givin a old pentium laptop with no sound. The laptop does everything I would like it to but I would really like to find a way to add sound output to it. There are no usb ports which were my first inclination but I've heard that usb solutions use alot of processor time anyways of which there isn't much to spare. Anyways if anyone has any good ideas I would love to hear them. Thanks in advance,
YoungPoodah

 

[Workin']

Do you have PCMCIA slots?

You can add a USB PC Card or someone might make a PC Card sound device, not sure about that though. Otherwise I think you are out of luck.

 

[YoungPoodah]

someone must have some thoughts on this!

 

[YoungPoodah]

Yes I have a pcmcia slot but haven't been able to find a sound pc card

 

[Maverick319]

Its my understanding that USB speakers do not need a soundcard as they stream the audio across the USB bus. You have to be running at least W98, and have a USB port on the laptop.

Here is a link to a decent set of USB speakers from Labtec $39.99 from the manufacturer is the cheapest I could find. Go figure.

And here is a USB PCMCIA card to connect it to.

Hope this helps.

 

[YoungPoodah]

That's a definite possiblity but I would still be looking at 100 bucks total. Comp geeks has some cheaper usb speakers though if you're independently interested in thoose

 

[AndyHui]

There used to be a company called New Media that made PCMCIA soundcards for laptops. The 8-bit version (with a tiny integrated speaker) was called the WavJammer, and the 16-bit version was called the GameJammer.

If you look VERY hard, you might still be able to find the GameJammer around here and there.

 

[YoungPoodah]

well I found the GameJammer bad thing is lowest price I could find was 160 bucks. Eiger labs makes one with soundblaster compatible audio for 143...

 

[Maverick319]

I would go the USB option, as adding USB to your laptop will open other avenues. I have a USB NIC that I use to access my home network and it works really well. I also searched for a PCMCIA soundcard but came up with nothing. My solution came up to 115 bucks without a coupon to Buy.com (if any still work) and before shipping. USB will open so many doors for you, especially on an older laptop.