USB powered laptop speakers: Question

[me@privacy.net]

This may be a dumb question but do USB powered laptop
speaker not only get their power via the USB connection
but the sound SIGNAL as well?

Or must you still have a cable the connects the
speakers to the laptops speaker connection as well?

 

[SMS]

On 8/26/2010 9:01 AM, me@privacy.net wrote:
> This may be a dumb question but do USB powered laptop
> speaker not only get their power via the USB connection
> but the sound SIGNAL as well?
>
> Or must you still have a cable the connects the
> speakers to the laptops speaker connection as well?

Typically you also need the analog connection to the computers line out
or headphone jack. However there are also speakers that get both the
power and audio over USB as well, i.e. the Logitech S150 system. The
latter will be using more system resources so keep that in mind if
you're doing this on something like a netbook with a low performance
processor.

 

[me@privacy.net]

SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:

>However there are also speakers that get both the
>power and audio over USB as well, i.e. the Logitech S150 system. The
>latter will be using more system resources so keep that in mind if
>you're doing this on something like a netbook with a low performance
>processor.

yes will be used on a netbook....a Samsung NB30

 

[SMS]

On 8/27/2010 9:24 AM, me@privacy.net wrote:
> SMS<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> However there are also speakers that get both the
>> power and audio over USB as well, i.e. the Logitech S150 system. The
>> latter will be using more system resources so keep that in mind if
>> you're doing this on something like a netbook with a low performance
>> processor.
>
> yes will be used on a netbook....a Samsung NB30

Then you would be better off with USB Power/analog signal, despite a
little more hassle to plug in two cables.

This is especially the case if you plan to watch movies on the netbook.
The Atom processor is already straining to do the software MPEG decoding
of a 30 frame per second standard definition movie without dropping
frames, and it doesn't need anything else to do simultaneously.

A lot of people don't realize that some USB devices actually consume
significant CPU resources and bus resources, causing increased power
consumption and shorter battery life. If you can use the purpose-built
interfaces built into the laptop (sound, wireless, etc.) rather than
using USB devices, it's a much better way to go.

 

[me@privacy.net]

SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:

>Then you would be better off with USB Power/analog signal, despite a
>little more hassle to plug in two cables.

OK thanks

Didn't realize how much resource the audio portion
taxed the netbook CPU!

 

[SMS]

On 8/27/2010 12:05 PM, me@privacy.net wrote:
> SMS<scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> Then you would be better off with USB Power/analog signal, despite a
>> little more hassle to plug in two cables.
>
> OK thanks
>
> Didn't realize how much resource the audio portion
> taxed the netbook CPU!

It could handle USB audio, but if you were trying to watch a movie
stored on the hard drive (or on a USB DVD drive), the CPU would be at
close to 100% utilization and adding any more load would cause video to
be choppy. If you're just listening to music from MP3s stored on the
hard drive then there would be no problem.

I know one of the new Asus netbooks has a higher resolution screen, but
it really can't play movies in HD because the processor is unable to do
the software decoding. A reviewer that tried playing a high-definition
movie on the netbook likened it to "watching a slide show."