Why Do Laptop Speakers Sound So Bad?

Back in the day, laptops weren’t a known technology. This meant people had to rely only on desktop computers that usually came with a set of speakers.

In this post I’ll address a question I’ve come across quite often in many music production forums that I participate in.

The question is “why do laptop speakers sound so bad?”

If you have a similar question in mind, not to worry because this post will teach you everything that makes laptop speakers generally, not great.

With that said, let’s get right into.

Why do laptop speakers sound so bad?

There are various reasons why laptop speakers sound bad and I’m going to discuss each of these reasons below.

Laptop speakers are tiny

Laptops are meant to be lightweight computers that a person can carry around without them becoming too heavy too fast.

For this reason, laptops are constructed with very light weight material and laptop speakers are mainly small on most laptops.

This generally makes them low quality speakers not meant for any type of complex work that would call for high end speakers.

Manufacturers don’t focus on speakers when building laptops

Laptops serve as portable workstations that people can carry anywhere. Therefore, the main selling point of laptops is in the fact that they’re portable.

In this regard, majority of consumers are not concerned with speaker quality when choosing laptops.

Manufacturers know this, which is why they don’t spend a lot of time engineering high quality speakers into their laptops.

Most people buying laptops or desktop computers focus on other specs like the processor, RAM, Graphics cards etc.

These 3 things are the most important components of a computer because they determine the quality of work that you can basically do with it.

For example, gaphics cards are essential pieces of hardware for  people that carry out highly visual work or processes like maybe gaming, graphic design. etc.

Furthermore, manufacturers know that anyone looking to use the laptop for audio production work will use better optimized speakers due to the technical complexity that comes with this kind of work.

Laptop speakers are cheap

Another reasons why laptop speakers sound so bad is because they’re typically cheap speakers.

No manufacturers are putting specialized speakers in laptops because the truth is, no one out there is shopping for a laptop and considering speakers.

Almost all laptop shoppers are concerned more with other specifications.

Are all laptop speakers bad?

Not at all, some speakers on laptops actually sound better compared to the usual low quality sound that is to be expected from most laptop speakers.

With that said, even the bad sounding speakers can be used in situations where you simply just need sound out of your laptop and quality of the sound is not really a big deal.

For example if you’re looking to simply watch a movie on the you can rely on simple laptop speakers to get the dialogue and the music.

Granted the listening experience won’t be cinema-esque but it can get the job done.

Alternatives

Find a laptop with good speakers

If you’re looking for a laptop that can offer you a better listening experience compared to the typical laptop speaker output, take your time to go over different laptops.

I advise you to go to a physical store and test out a bunch of laptops rather than relying on online reviews alone because you could end up with the wrong laptop, unable to give you what you want.

Invest in a hi-fi audio system

Another obvious alternative is investing in high quality speakers.

There are many different types of audio systems out there and all you have to do is find the one that can perform the functions you need.

If you need speakers for playing music and movies, you can find pretty good alternatives on amazon.

If you’re one that carries out deep audio work, then you can go for studio monitors.

They essentially meant for audio work such as audio engineering so they’re perfect for any one of you out there that’s into music production, sound design, audio for film etc.

Use computer speakers

Simple computer speakers are another above average alternative. I wouldn’t use them for music production but they can do a good job for music playback.

As a warning, most computer speakers are not necessarily loud or bass heavy as other sound systems.

If you’re okay with that, then go for them.