How do MacBook speakers stack up?

March 20, 2008 5:04 PM

How do the on-board speakers on the new MacBooks compare to the ones on the MacBook Pro?

I've heard the speakers on the MBP (and they sound great for a laptop), but not on the regular MacBooks. If, for comparison, the MBP speakers were ranked as 10, where would you place the sound quality of the MB speakers?

And, yes, I know tiny little laptop speakers will never compare to some big expensive audiophile set-up, but that's comparing apples to oranges. I just want to make sure that the MacBook speakers are suitably loud and not unbearably tinny.

posted by c:\awesome to computers & internet (9 comments total)

The Macbook speakers are notoriously quiet. The sound quality is quite good, though.
posted by zsazsa at 5:41 PM on March 20, 2008

The MBP's speakers are quite a bit louder, and noticably better-sounding. Both are still clearly laptop speakers though - even crappy external speakers would be an improvement over either.
posted by kickingtheground at 5:47 PM on March 20, 2008

My wife just picked up a Macbook, and listening to it side by side with my MBP I'm actually inclined to say hers sounds a good bit better than mine. It's quieter, to be sure, but much clearer. I have no idea if the polycarbonate is "flatter" in terms of resonance than aluminum, but the audio just sounds "truer" somehow. My MBP is 10 months old or so, in the spirit of full disclosure. One of the bleeding edge models may be different.
posted by littlerobothead at 6:25 PM on March 20, 2008

I have a followup question (tried to post this an hour ago, but it has not appeared yet, to me at least... if it appears twice, please forgive me!)

Anyway, when watching a video using the VLC media player on my MBP, I can artificially increase the maximum volume, which makes things nice and loud (yet still crisp and clear). However, when watching flash clips on YouTube, or similar types of video/audio files online, the maximum volume, to be frank, sucks.

Since I know the MBP is capable of being nice and loud, is there any way for me to boost the volume in each application????
posted by newfers at 7:18 PM on March 20, 2008

Hm. I find the MBP's speakers both louder and better than the MacBooks... one of very few 'Pro' advantages, since the regular MacBooks seem better-engineered to me in most ways.
posted by rokusan at 7:24 PM on March 20, 2008

I'm typing this on my work-provided MBP that's sitting next to our home MacBook, and in a quick test I'd have to say the MBP is considerably better, at least to my ears; if the MBP is a 10, I'd have to give the MacBook a 6, maybe 6.5.

As to increasing the maximum volume at the system level, I've read Audio Hijack can do that (along with a bunch of other things) though I don't have any firsthand experience with it - You can download a free trial.
posted by jalexei at 8:03 PM on March 20, 2008

I own a MacBook, and my speakers drive me CRAZY. I mean, they work, but if I could justify the expenditure I'd definitely pick up a cheap pair of external speakers. However, I have no basis for comparison to the Pro model.
posted by bettafish at 8:16 PM on March 20, 2008

you know those crappy base-free cell phone speakers the current crop of cool kids use to blast their music on public transportation? the kind that somewhat sound like a ham radio from 1952 and that make you wonder if the artist played, were he or she on the bus, subway or airplane where this was occurring, would consider raping said teenager with a pitchfork for abusing his creation in such a horrid way? the kind that makes you long back for the eighties crop of cool kids who at least chose to muscle a real boom box? the speaker on the current crop of mac book is slightly superior to this. you could halve a potatoe to cover your ears with and listen to your car radio being slightly mistuned to an AM station and you'd have a similar experience.

but not all is lost. the mac book does come with a rather capable little hole to plug a more than decent set of headphones into. thus you should be fine. well, as long as you don't make it the white ipod screwups.

(would it have killed steve to put at least some base into the mb/mbp speakers?)
posted by krautland at 8:34 PM on March 20, 2008

krautland: bass in speakers takes power, size, or some combination of the two. Laptops, particularly Apple laptops, are short on both.
posted by Malor at 9:37 PM on March 20, 2008