Portable speakers for laptops. Do they make sense?

[alaios]

Hi everyone, I travel a lot spending quite some time at hotel rooms. I was wondering if I can with some portable speakers get better perfrormance in terms of staging compared to my laptop built in speaker.

Which speakers would you suggest that I can still fit in the laptop back?
Or you think is much better to skip this discussion all together?

Thanks a lot
Alex

 

[kyuu]

Yes, of course just about any external speaker, even a not great one, will be a significant improvement over a laptop's built-in speakers. Whether it "makes sense" depends. What you do mean fit in the "laptop back"? Are you talking about a bag/backpack? What is your budget?

A frequent recommendation for something relatively easy to toss in a backpack is the iLoud Micro. Or are you looking more for something that can attach directly to your laptop without the need for external power?

 

[JeremyFife]

A case for headphones and a good dongle? I prefer speakers, but I can see that the hassle wouldn't be worth it.
I use the cheap 7Hz Salnotes Zero so I never worry about damage but there are plenty of options

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

A decent speaker or pair can give you better sound. As others have pointed out, it depends on how much space you can allocate for speakers in your luggage. You can get pretty good sound for $50 or a bit less.

 

[LTig]

Hi everyone, I travel a lot spending quite some time at hotel rooms. I was wondering if I can with some portable speakers get better perfrormance in terms of staging compared to my laptop built in speaker.

If "staging" means a wider/better stereo image you'll need two speakers. There are lots of active speakers in a wide price and sound quality range. In fact almost all speakers will improve the sound quality compared to a laptop.

Which speakers would you suggest that I can still fit in the laptop back?

Genelec 8010 are very good but probably still to big for a bag designed for a laptop.

Or you think is much better to skip this discussion all together?

Not at all. I own a JBL Charge 3 blutooth speaker. It sounds very good for the price and can easily fill a hotel room with good sound, albeit not with any stereo imaging (single speaker). Before I had it I carried a Pelikan case with 2 Genelec 8020s (should have seen the face of my wife when she saw it the first time ).