Ok, wattage is the power they use, which roughly translates to how loud they will get. A set with higher wattage will generally get louder than a set with lower wattage. The other factors here are the efficiency of the speakers and how loud they can get without distortion. Most of the time you wont be able to find out the efficiency of computer speakers, so more wattage doesn't necessarily mean louder, but it usually does.
So, the other thing with wattage is that it gives you more headroom. It's better to have more power than too little... you don't want your speakers to be as loud as they can get before distortion for a volume you like.
Speakers like the Logitech sets mentioned and the Altec Lansings you linked to should have no problem getting plenty loud for you if you're using them in a small room. The larger the room and farther you are away from your speakers, the more power and efficiency you'll need to get the same volumes.
So, that's some quick info on the wattage end of things.
That's not all you need to know though. A 30 watt set of speakers could very well sound better than a 1000 watt set of speakers. It's what the speakers to with their wattage that counts.
In a set of computer speakers, the inputs on the set are given a full range signal, meaning they get every part of the sound from the lows to the highs. The speakers have crossovers inside them that will send the low stuff to the sub, and the mids/highs to the satellites.
Certain driver sizes are better at producing certain frequency ranges. The goal for really nice speakers is to produce equal volumes at all frequency levels (meaning a note played at any level will be equally loud). This is called flat frequency response (referring to a graph of SPL (volume) vs frequency).
The range of human hearing is about 20Hz to 20kHz. In an ideal world, you'd have a speaker set that could reproduce any note in that range at equal volumes. It's really tough to get that range though. My HT speaker set and sub ran me about $2400 (not including receiver etc.) and I've pretty much got it covered now. There is no computer speaker set that is going to come close to covering that range.
The better computer speaker sets will have a midrange and a tweeter in the satellites vs a single midrange driver. Smaller tweeters are able to vibrate faster and do a better job getting the highs. Oppositely, a subwoofer has a larger driver that's able to push more air and get the low stuff. It takes a lot more power to get the low end than the high stuff.
Ok, I could go on like this, but most of this stuff is not stuff you can really do a decent job researching in the computer speaker market.
Going to Best Buy or Circuit City or whatever and listening to some of the offerings is a great idea. If you like speaker set A vs speaker set B, then it doesn't matter if everyone else says B is better. The important thing is what sounds good to you.
Some of the higher quality computer speakers are made by Klipsch and Swan. You should easily be able to find Klipsch at a retail store, but the Swans would pose a problem.
Newegg sells both.
Promedia 2.1
Swan (a HT sub can be hooked up with these if you want more bass)
If you want to hear the swans, your best bet would be to go to audioenvy.com and see if anyone if your area has them.
Basically you get what you pay for in speakers (well, except bose
😉). It seems like you're asking
us for a budget hehe. A good 2.1 computer speaker set is going to run you $100 to $175. A good 5.1 set is going to be significantly more.
You can also do what I did, and get a real HT speaker set and a receiver. You'll have a lot more options and upgrading will be easier, but it's going to cost you more in the short term, and a lot more in the long term :Q (but I think it's worth it).
If this is mainly for music, I'd say get a nice 2.1 set. If you're playing a lot of games and movies, then get a nice 5.1 set or an entry level HTIB set if you can afford either. If not, you can get a decent 5.1 set for about the cost or a nice 2.1 set.
Alright.... I'm sure anyone who's reading this is bored by now, so I'm going to start building a computer for my gf's younger brother for his birthday tomorrow
😀.