New PowerBook's audio is not balanced. Anyone else?

[xsedrinam]

I've just ordered a new 1.67Ghz PowerBook, and am slightly concerned about this audio defect! I dont really use the speakers on laptops much anyway, usually connect a set of speakers or high def headphones!

However for the price of PowerBooks, and their target audience - Apple shouldn't have overlooked this feature.

This issue came out about three weeks ago in Apple Discussions. There are at least two threads on it which have been locked down since it seems to be a heated (emotionally charged) issue. I can appreciate having separation on internal speakers, but don't see this as a major deal and I don't see anywhere that Apple is going to take any measures to deal with what seems to be a slight left bias because of the additional mid speaker to the left middle. There still seem to be some owners of the "new pb15" who don't hear a problem, so it's been confusing. I posted a thread some time back in MR trying to verify, but gave up the ghost.
X

 

[Vanilla]

This issue came out about three weeks ago in Apple Discussions. There are at least two threads on it which have been locked down since it seems to be a heated (emotionally charged) issue. I can appreciate having separation on internal speakers, but don't see this as a major deal and I don't see anywhere that Apple is going to take any measures to deal with what seems to be a slight left bias because of the additional mid speaker to the left middle. There still seem to be some owners of the "new pb15" who don't hear a problem, so it's been confusing. I posted a thread some time back in MR trying to verify, but gave up the ghost.
X

I posted on one of the discussion threads you mention. The reason it gets heated is the sheer frustration when confronted by individuals who insist that:

a/ Laptop speakers are crummy so why listen to them anyway
[ With that attitude why have speakers at all? Whatever sound is produced, of whatever quality, should be balanced]

b/ There is nothing wrong, its all in the mind
[ Do the test and try and say that again with a straight face]

c/ Yeah, but what can you do? If you don't like it get a PC.
[The issue is NOT a major one, certainly not enough to warrant returning the powerbook. But why should we have to accept imperfection, particularly built-in designed imperfection?]

I agree with Nesbitt. No its NOT a major issue but as a matter of principle, for the amount Apple charges for a PowerBook the customer should expect balanced speakers. Period.

And just to exemplify the emotional nature of this issue (!) can I ask if you have done the sound test yourself on a new PowerBook? If so I find it hard to believe that you can describe it as a "slight left bias".

Anyway at this moment in time I have exhausted all obvious avenues. I've contacted my dealer to no avail, I've sent feedback to Apple and raised it with Apple technical support to no avail. I've also tried raising the issue on Apple discussion boards only to see the discussions locked.

All I want (all I really, really want...sic) is for someone in Apple to say they are aware of the issue and are working on a software solution to resolve it, rather than being told its not a problem but a design feature. It hasn't happened yet but I live in hope.

For now my only thought is to keep the issue alive with people in the hope that more and more perform the test and also send feedback to Apple. Maybe sheer volumes of comments will cause a rethink and we'll get an update that provides volume and/or balance control on the 3rd speaker.

In the meantime I continue to love my powerbook a little bit more each day and to Nesbitt I say go ahead and buy it, they are fantastic machines and this sound issue is really not enough on its own to kill the sheer enjoyment of using such a machine.

All I'd say is if you DO hear the left bias I am talking about, please send feedback to Apple and maybe if enough of us do so they may actually provide a fix along the lines I've mentioned.

cheers
Vanilla

 

[matticus008]

a/ Laptop speakers are crummy so why listen to them anyway
[ With that attitude why have speakers at all? Whatever sound is produced, of whatever quality, should be balanced]

Simply put, with the audio quality of notebook speakers so low, there is no reason to expect any real balance from them, as they suffer in all areas of sound reproduction. The presence of the third speaker strengthens the output and is designed around people who are playing sound but not necessarily sitting at their PowerBook. I agree that it would be a useful feature to be able to turn it off, just as a matter of personal preference. But that doesn't make any real case for Apple to put resources into tackling.

I agree with Nesbitt. No its NOT a major issue but as a matter of principle, for the amount Apple charges for a PowerBook the customer should expect balanced speakers. Period.

And just to exemplify the emotional nature of this issue (!) can I ask if you have done the sound test yourself on a new PowerBook? If so I find it hard to believe that you can describe it as a "slight left bias".

Anyway at this moment in time I have exhausted all obvious avenues. I've contacted my dealer to no avail, I've sent feedback to Apple and raised it with Apple technical support to no avail. I've also tried raising the issue on Apple discussion boards only to see the discussions locked.

All I want (all I really, really want...sic) is for someone in Apple to say they are aware of the issue and are working on a software solution to resolve it, rather than being told its not a problem but a design feature. It hasn't happened yet but I live in hope.

I don't mean to dismiss your argument by any means, but honestly, it's not a flaw. This was an intentional, conscious decision on the part of Apple engineers (and all the levels of approval upward of that), and the response you've received from Apple is appropriate. To them, it's like having customers call and complain that the spacebar isn't centered on the keyboard. That's just the way it is and the way it will be.

Likewise, anyone who cares enough about sound reproduction to notice the balance of the speakers needs to use an external set. There's no excuse for the low quality of notebook speakers unless you're just playing music in the background while reading a book or waiting on some sort of alert tone to call you back to the computer. If you're out in public somewhere where you don't have access to speakers, you should probably be using headphones because it's a) polite and b) easier to hear what's going on.

I understand and have experienced this situation, but on the PowerBooks I tried, adjusting the balance to the right alleviated most of the issue. It's not a perfect fix, but you can get the left bias down substantially to a point where it's only noticeable if you're listening for it. That adjustment is there for users to take advantage of for their personal preferences or individual speaker layouts. Arguing for Apple to re-center the audio slider is also likely a fruitless task. They have defaults, you can change them, and that's that.

I'm not going to write Apple about something they know about, designed, and documented. It's not a flaw and it's not something that most users will notice. Furthermore, there's nowhere else for that speaker to go, except to the right side. Professional users will be using more professional solutions for audio reproduction, and everyone else that notices is just one of us--the crazy, fanatical, over-demanding users that fuel these message board fires but go unnoticed in the rest of the world.

I hope you can adjust your speakers...or, if it really bugs you too badly, you can disconnect the speaker internally, but then there goes the sound quality back to your typical PC notebook. It's all a matter of your preferences versus professional, researched engineering decisions. Best of luck.

 

[Dalriada]

Finally SHE arrived last night, my new PowerBook. Took me most of the night transferring over my stuff and setting up things but all went smooth, not one single problem showed up (running 10.3.7)

Did I notice the unbalanced audio....... ????

Well after noticing that there were NO trackpad issues, NO hard drive noises, NO AC adapter issues, NO dead pixels and NO hinge creaks nor bends..... AND noticing the sheer build quality of this machine..... well YES I did notice the unbalanced audio. Whilst for daily tasks one could say the sound quality is even enhanced but for iTunes/iDVD and the likes well yes it's not the most comfortable of listenings.

Certainly like Vanilla I'm going to report back to my dealer/email Apple and make some noise over on the Apple support site and lets hope many other MR members do likewise so we get us a software fix.

But in the meantime I'm finding it hard to let this machine sleep for a while, to cool down, before asking it more labour.

My 2 cents.... have fun.

- Dal

 

[Rod Rod]

Furthermore, there's nowhere else for that speaker to go, except to the right side.

Really? The 12" PowerBook G4 has always had its third speaker in the center, inside the hinge vent.

 

[matticus008]

Really? The 12" PowerBook G4 has always had its third speaker in the center, inside the hinge vent.

Yes, but that's the 12", whose internal layout is different.

 

[AdmittedPCuser]

I agree that this is an issue and I'm also not happy with the way Apple is responding. I know many people have said that these are notebook speakers, and I agree. I don't think anyone is expecting too much, but at a bare minimum, they should sound balanced. I also use my notebook to watch DVDs and the problem is very obvious. So obvious in fact, that I originally thought my right speak was defective. When I called AppleCare, the first tech I spoke with originally told me that I should hear the exact same sound from both speakers. I have since learned otherwise.

The real issue for me is that these notebooks aren't your $399 Dell special. It's Apple's "professional" series and they are expensive. IMHO, I think this was a design flaw and Apple was just clever enough to spin the problem. How can it not be a flaw when you shift the sound balance all the way to the right speaker and the sound still comes out stronger from the left speaker?!?

Vanilla, I'm with you buddy... I've called Apple about this problem, but I have a feeling we're gonna be left out in the cold.

I run a major risk saying this here, but I'm not impressed with the way Apple has been handling issues lately (this issue and the way they are treating resellers as an example). It's as if all the success with the iPod, and now the mac mini, is giving Apple a big head. Before anyone blasts me, this is only my opinion.

 

[Rod Rod]

Yes, but that's the 12", whose internal layout is different.

The point is that since Apple put the third speaker where it is on the 12", placing it there on the new 15" should not have been a big deal.

 

[Vanilla]

Thanks for your support guys.

As I say call Apple Support, send feedback, mention it to guys at the genius bar and tell your mac friends to do the test. I've since also fired off a number of emails to a range of Mac Magazines and national newspapers in the hope of raising awareness a notch and if you know of media outlets in your particular areas it can do no harm to fire off an email yourself. At some point hopefully critical mass will be reached and Apple will quietly release a fix, we shall see.

And to others skim reading this thread I think I can speak for all of us in saying we love the PowerBook, its a fantastic machine and OSX is an awesome experience.

All we ask is that for the amount of money we have to pay to own one of these beauties, whatever tinny/crummy sound the poor thing can manage to output should be evenly balanced. Furthermore we would like Apple to acknowledge that the design decision that shunts two speakers on the left and one on the right, which has caused this IS an issue and will be looked at.

I assure you I'm not rebellious by nature, I'm too old and stressed out in my normal working life to have the luxury of such thoughts, but I don't like being taken for a ride. Paying a not inconsiderable sum for this machine and discovering that the sound balance is so "off" on its own is not the issue. What's really got to me is the "its normal", "its in your mind", "plug in a set of externals, whenever you want sound", "wear headphones", "buy a pc", "I like it" attitude that I have been confronted with when dealing with Apple and Apple aficionados.

As AdmittedPCuser says "How can it not be a flaw when you shift the sound balance all the way to the right speaker and the sound still comes out stronger from the left speaker?!?" No amount of spin can square that one, so why bother trying? Just admit it, solve it and move on.

So I'll keep plugging away, while enjoying everything else about the PB and hopefully one warm sunny day I'll log on and spot a software update that will grant me control over the pesky 3rd speaker and resolve the issue once and for all. Wow, did you see that pig fly by.......... ;-)

Vanilla

 

[matticus008]

The point is that since Apple put the third speaker where it is on the 12", placing it there on the new 15" should not have been a big deal.

The internal layout is different. Take apart a 15" PowerBook. The speaker can't go where it is on the 12" PB, because there's no open space there (most notable internal component reshuffle is caused by the keyboard light unit and sensors). THAT is the point.

 

[Rod Rod]

The internal layout is different. Take apart a 15" PowerBook. The speaker can't go where it is on the 12" PB, because there's no open space there (most notable internal component reshuffle is caused by the keyboard light unit and sensors). THAT is the point.

It's charitable of you to excuse the design flaw by circular reasoning. However, Apple designs these things and it's within their power to place the third speaker centrally in the hinge vent.

 

[matticus008]

It's charitable of you to excuse the design flaw by circular reasoning. However, Apple designs these things and it's within their power to place the third speaker centrally in the hinge vent.

I'm not excusing the design flaw. I'm not a huge fan of the decision, but you can see from the logic board that it's not possible. There is no blank spot in the logic board in which to put the speaker, and it can't just sit on top of it (it is, after all, a good-power magnet. Here are two images, one showing the logic board and the other showing the location of the third speaker. The speaker can be placed anywhere in the periphery of the logic board, but not ON it, so regardless of its location, you will get a left or right bias to the sound.

Note the logic board. Along the top edge, from left to right, you have the G4, the Intrepid system controller, and then the Radeon GPU arranged, with airflow across for cooling. There is no spare room here, nor can airflow be interrupted. The overall enclosure is too thin for the vent mount of the speaker.

Here's the next image. This shows the third speaker. It is attached to a cross section in the upper right corner area of the battery, to the left of the hard drive. Referring to the first picture, you could move it to the opposite side (same problem) or maybe squeeze it into the side grilles (worse problem).

The logic board is completely packed into the space provided and the speaker DOES NOT FIT in any central location. I too hope that there is a better solution in the future (either the ability to turn it off or fine-tune speaker output for better balance), but the 12" solution does NOT apply to the 15."

 

[Rod Rod]

I understand what you're saying and I appreciate the pictures. Thanks. According to what you've shown, Apple would have to reshape the logic board and the CPU / GPU ventilation to fit the third speaker centrally in the hinge vent.

 

[matticus008]

I understand what you're saying and I appreciate the pictures. Thanks. According to what you've shown, Apple would have to reshape the logic board and the CPU / GPU ventilation to fit the third speaker centrally in the hinge vent.

Correct. They would also need either a) a thicker enclosure or b) a deeper enclosure (front to back) in order to do so. In any case, if it's frustrating, it can be disconnected entirely. You always have a choice. My rear left speaker in my car started getting fuzzy (broken cone) and i disconnected it until I felt the need to buy new speakers. The balance was off, but the sound was better, and I could compensate by moving the L/R and F/R outputs.

This is also Apple's approach--sacrificing balance for superior quality (except with fewer tools for end-user adjustment). You can't always have the best of everything, especially understanding the design constraints of an already mature design and the fact that no notebook has a passable speaker set. If the successor to the AlBook continues to have the same problem, then we have a cause for concern. The decision they made seems to work for 90% or more of their customers, and there you have it.

 

[Demon Hunter]

Dferrara: My dealer has promised to check on some new stock he has and get back to me, but given that every machine in the Regent street Apple store had the same issue I don't hold out much hope. Did you get a resolution on the keyboard issue? If so, what steps did you take?

I am still trying to get a replacement after 5 repair attempts. At least, in my case Apple has acknowledged the issue... that doesn't stop them, however, from ignoring it or playing it down. If you really want it fixed, or something done about it, you have to fight hard. Fight the good fight, Vanilla, we're here for ya.

While you all argue about the 12", you fail to realize that the previous gen 15" had a mid-range speaker and did not exhibit this issue to my knowledge (I have one)! Ridiculous!

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

Man i sure am i glad i have an ibook with a set of creatures

 

[alex_ant]

By that logic, why even have laptop speakers at all? (rhetorical)

This isn't about the quality of the DACs etc. This is simply about balanced sound. I agree with Vanilla.

Thankfully, I have the previous rev PB15, but I've tried this on the latest models in the store and the left bias is very noticeable to me and it would annoy the heck out of me. I (my personal opinion) could not buy this model PB. However, I appreciate that others might not notice or be bothered by it.

I agree with Vanilla too, and with you. The speakers should be balanced, no excuse. However, given that they aren't, I don't consider it the end of the world. I've always thought that laptop speakers are there not to play sound, but to convey the fact that there is sound currently being played and you should plug in a pair of headphones or computer speakers or a stereo or something, anything, if you want to hear even 1/2 of the audio spectrum that is currently being played. Failing that, it's going to sound like piss. Balanced piss or imbalanced piss, it's still piss. Earbuds take up practically no space and they are like $10. I just don't understand why imbalanced built-in speakers are such a critical flaw that we have to go through long heated posts debating it. Everyone agrees that it's a flaw. Report it to Apple, get a set of earbuds, move on with life.

 

[Demon Hunter]

I don't know what kind of notebooks you guys are using, but a lot of them have pretty damn nice speakers... Harmon Kardon, etc (granted they are huge). Even the eMac has some nice speakers, that can really belt out balanced sound. You can always give some kind of reason because it's just a laptop. Maybe Apple's standards are falling.

 

[Vanilla]

Two points:

1/ Lets stop the revisionism of the quality of laptop speakers please. They're fine. I used to have a 17" and the sound was great out of those speakers, with my wife and I spending many a night in hotels happily watching DVD's on it. Frankly, my old Thinkpad T20 is also great. If PowerBook speakers were really as tinny/cr*ppy as some are stating there would have been a much bigger outcry on that particular topic than this one.

2/ Yes, given the design of the new 15" they could not put the 3rd speaker anywhere else, so the design is flawed. Period. Also, from what I understand the old 15" did NOT have this issue, so what changed?

Finally, to alex_ant, unfortunately not "everyone agrees its a flaw", in particular Apple themselves are refusing to acknowledge its a flaw, which is why I feel compelled to continue talking about it, writing to editors about it, posting on BB's about it and talking to Apple guys at the Regent Street store and at Apple support about it.

The only other option appears to be to let off some steam on a BB, accept that you can't change anything and learn to live with spending a not inconsiderable sum on something you fundamentally know is flawed.

For now, I am not prepared to go down that path. And let me stress again, I love the PowerBook, but this "in denial" attitude of Apple over an issue about as obvious as a piano falling from the sky makes my blood boil.

So I'll be incommunicado for a week as I'm off to chamonix to throw myself down a few mountains with a couple of planks of wood strapped to my feet (no, its not exactly the stress of tackling Apple on an issue, but rather a love of skiing ;-) ), hopefully upon my return there'll be a nice surprise in software update. Here's hoping.

Vanilla

 

[matticus008]

Two points:

1/ Lets stop the revisionism of the quality of laptop speakers please. They're fine. I used to have a 17" and the sound was great out of those speakers, with my wife and I spending many a night in hotels happily watching DVD's on it. Frankly, my old Thinkpad T20 is also great. If PowerBook speakers were really as tinny/cr*ppy as some are stating there would have been a much bigger outcry on that particular topic than this one.

2/ Yes, given the design of the new 15" they could not put the 3rd speaker anywhere else, so the design is flawed. Period. Also, from what I understand the old 15" did NOT have this issue, so what changed?

Finally, to alex_ant, unfortunately not "everyone agrees its a flaw", in particular Apple themselves are refusing to acknowledge its a flaw, which is why I feel compelled to continue talking about it, writing to editors about it, posting on BB's about it and talking to Apple guys at the Regent Street store and at Apple support about it.

The only other option appears to be to let off some steam on a BB, accept that you can't change anything and learn to live with spending a not inconsiderable sum on something you fundamentally know is flawed.

For now, I am not prepared to go down that path. And let me stress again, I love the PowerBook, but this "in denial" attitude of Apple over an issue about as obvious as a piano falling from the sky makes my blood boil.
[...]
Vanilla

After several days with my new 15," I can provide a great deal of additional information about the leftward bias of the speakers. Yes, it is present. Yes, the PB design is very tight and poses a major problem with regard to redesigning the whole system over one speaker. No, Apple still does not consider this a flaw. The third speaker really does add to the richness of the audio playback, holding high volumes with lesser distortion than many entry-level desktop speakers. It does this at the expense of perfect balance in all playback situations.

I shifted my L/R balance just slightly to the right (there are definitely "sweet spots" where the sound is clearer at specific points in the balance slider), which gave a little more oomph to the right side. Also, while playing extensive music on the PB, it became very clear that songs that were mixed discretely (that is, where the audio is distributed ONLY to either the left or right channel or it moves back and forth, etc.) work as normal. The middle speaker does not throw off the balance except in cases where the right speaker has the whole audio stream for an extended period or when the tracks are mixed in joint stereo. Moreover, the bias issue is much less signficant than it seems in this thread. It's clear the the left region is stronger, but the right region does produce right-side audio, as it is meant to. The speakers, being just 10 or 11 inches apart, also make the difference irrelevant unless you are working very close to the screen. Positioning the computer at a comfortable distance and at a reasonable midrange volume, the bias is not bothersome or blatant and really only matters if you listen for it.

Again, a tool for more customizable speaker output would be appreciated, but most music is reproduced fairly faithfully, except in mono tracks or low-quality joint stereo modes where the point is to produce sound that might as well come from a single speaker (internet radio, system notifications). In discrete stereo mixes, sound does have left to right travel, but the small distance between speakers works against a high importance being cast on perfect balance. At a distance of 20" or more, the sound blends extremely well and very few users will notice the problem--those that do would mostly be audiophiles with more precise, responsive, and rich sounding external sets.

These are my findings, offered from someone who has adjusted each speaker in a surround sound setup connected to my PC to compensate for speaker wire latency, room shape, and relative positioning of the individual speakers (with separate profiles for the chair in front of the computer and the bed behind that to compensate for distances). I have demanding expectations, and the imperfectly balanced PowerBook meets my expectations for consistent, clear, and even sound at a normal working distance. Just as you can stand in a corner of my room and feel that the audio is imbalanced, you can lean too closely into the PowerBook and observe the same. I hope this lays to rest concerns (but you will notice the bias, especially after reading about it, at least until you stop scrutinizing your new PB and get into a normal routine).

 

[Vanilla]

....the difference irrelevant unless you are working very close to the screen. Positioning the computer at a comfortable distance and at a reasonable midrange volume, the bias is not bothersome or blatant and really only matters if you listen for it...

That's a nice review matticus008, somewhat more balanced than the speakers you are referring to ;-)

I've picked out the above quote from your piece because it highlights the reason why in my opinion this is an issue.

When you work on a laptop you invariably ARE "working very close to the screen", which is why the unbalanced speakers are such a pain, so much so in fact that I didn't NEED to listen out for it (I'd never heard of the problem prior to owning the laptop), the issue instead leapt out and smacked me round the chops screaming (from the left side mainly) "Cupertino we have a problem" as soon as I fired up iTunes for the first time.

So anyway, I've now returned the PBook to my dealer who suggested ordering a replacement as a final throw of the dice and he is ordering me another one, which as I have to wait a while (lead times are apparantly stretching out at the moment...wonder why....) I've decided to go for a BTO through them. Lead time is apparantly three weeks so when it arrives I'll report back here on what if anything I find.

In the meantime I do suggest that anyone that notices this issue, even if you believe honestly you can happily live with it, as a matter of course simply write a feedback email to Apple to let them know you spotted it. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, a pair of stereo speakers should produce balanced sound, of whatever quality the machine manages to output.

The fact that a number of users can live with an unbalanced soundscape is testimony to the strength of the package as a whole which is unquestionably superb, but this should not blind us to the need to point out such issues to Apple.

cheers
Vanilla

 

[matticus008]

That's a nice review matticus008, somewhat more balanced than the speakers you are referring to ;-)

I've picked out the above quote from your piece because it highlights the reason why in my opinion this is an issue.

[cut for length]

Haha! Fair point. Just to clarify, what I meant by "close proximity" was not a normal working distance of 20" or more, but rather a face-in-the-keyboard range. It really does blend pretty well at 24" out if you adjust the audio balance slightly (and the key is slightly and carefully, or you get weaker sound overall).

The fact that a number of users can live with an unbalanced soundscape is testimony to the strength of the package as a whole which is unquestionably superb, but this should not blind us to the need to point out such issues to Apple.

cheers
Vanilla

Amen to that. I think the higher quality of the machines also invites us to criticize the minor issues much more vehemently. For example, I was briefly sad that my display is very slightly higher on the left side (1/32" or less, and only sometimes) and was immediately worried about screen warping (It is level, just not perfectly horizontal). Then I looked at my friend's Inspiron 1100 (twice as thick, ugly as all hell, heavy, and sloooww) and saw an obvious concave curvature in the entire lid. The optical drive door also seems to be crooked, and the latch mechanism is just plain primitive (it's not even a button! It has a sliding tab that physically moves the two latches to the right to unhook them, like the hood of a car!). Meanwhile, I'm worried about the top surface of my notebook not being 100% 0.0 degrees horizontal and whether the (fairly high quality) speakers have matching outputs. I even calibrated the display, making the "dull" PowerBook LCD pretty vibrant (and I had been a harsh critic of PowerBook displays).

Long story short, I'm almost happy that this is my biggest complaint about the PowerBook, especially one that can be lessened (if not fixed--yet) with about a minute's work. Best of luck on yours, Vanilla.

 

[radio893fm]

It's not a good thing that Apple overlooked this but come on, as alex_ant has pointed out, why would anyone who isn't deaf want to use the internal speakers for playing music?

Helloooooo! This is the reason people buy a PORTABLE computer... to take it wherever they want and play music, dvd or whatever they want. So the use of the internal speakers is a natural thing to do... or do you pretend that they will carry also a pair of speakers with their PB?

 

[parrothead]

A wee bit off topic....

I have a 1.25Ghz 15" albook, does it have a third speaker installed? I would test it now, but I am at work and it is at home. I am surprised that many of you find that the powerbook produces enough sound to watch a movie in a hotel room. I have never found this to be the case, especially during quiet scenes. It seems that external speakers or headphones are a necessity in order to hear everything that is supposed to be heard. Maybe it is because there's no third speaker?

 

[matticus008]

A wee bit off topic....

I have a 1.25Ghz 15" albook, does it have a third speaker installed? I would test it now, but I am at work and it is at home. I am surprised that many of you find that the powerbook produces enough sound to watch a movie in a hotel room. I have never found this to be the case, especially during quiet scenes. It seems that external speakers or headphones are a necessity in order to hear everything that is supposed to be heard. Maybe it is because there's no third speaker?

I believe all 15" AlBooks have always had the three-speaker setup. The output of the speakers tops off much quieter than your typical desktop set (but the line out can power some pretty large speakers with low interference). For casual listening, the quality and richness of the sound is pretty good...but for any other purpose (listening at higher volume or any sort of audio work), you'll need a quality external speaker system.

I've found the PowerBook more than sufficiently loud to play music in a fair-sized room (16' x 14') and for watching movies--if your speakers cannot handle this, you should probably check the systemwide audio volumes and any volume controls in the application itself. I'm not too familiar with Apple's DVD player (I'm not exactly a fan of it), but if it has a "dynamic boost" or some sort of preamp situation, it might help to enable that option. You shouldn't have any trouble with the computer being loud enough in a hotel room.