I plan on buying a macbook (unless a smaller MBP is released at wwdc), and one of the uses i plan on it having is to watch some tv shows (online) and movies. Would the better investment be on external speakers or a new monitor? And are there any suggestions of models that have worked well in the past?
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Speakers or Monitor for Macbook?
- Thread starter jamminph88
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external speakers are a must for any computer...so if you can only buy one of the two right away, I would get speakers. But a decent set of speakers can be had pretty cheaply, so I don't see why you can't get both eventually.
cheap speakers and monitor
My PB 12" speakers suck pretty bad, so I would say get a pair of $10 powered speakers from Big Lots, or other cheap discount store, and put the rest into a monitor unless you want to watch from 3 feet away. Plus it'll keep your display brighter longer if you don't put as many hours on it.
Also, for when you get the lappy, watch as many videos as you can in VLC. The player is free and it allows you to crank up the sound levels past what Apple has default.
My PB 12" speakers suck pretty bad, so I would say get a pair of $10 powered speakers from Big Lots, or other cheap discount store, and put the rest into a monitor unless you want to watch from 3 feet away. Plus it'll keep your display brighter longer if you don't put as many hours on it.
Also, for when you get the lappy, watch as many videos as you can in VLC. The player is free and it allows you to crank up the sound levels past what Apple has default.
any suggestions for a cheap set of speakers and a nice monitor? Also, would it be more cost effective to just get a 15" MBP instead of a 13" MB with a monitor?
If you hang on the couch with the MB like I do then a decent set of headphones might be better for a nice movie experience. The screen is perfectly fine in that position 
My vote would be for a 20" Dell LCD. They make two versions; one costs ~$225 and the other about $325. Either is good for the price.
I have a pair of Logitech Z-4 speakers that I picked up for ~$45. So, for $270 you could be set (and that's far less than you'd pay to upgrade to a MBP).
All that said, you'd really do better if you could give us some budget constraints.
I have a pair of Logitech Z-4 speakers that I picked up for ~$45. So, for $270 you could be set (and that's far less than you'd pay to upgrade to a MBP).
All that said, you'd really do better if you could give us some budget constraints.
sorry...probably around 200 for a monitor and 75 for speakers...plus or minus if there is something really great out there
I would suggest this Viewsonic 20" monitor for $180, they sold out of the 22" monitor that I've been recommending lately, but this is just one step below it. For speakers, I have Boston BA635s, they sound plenty good to me, this 2.1 speaker system is similar and it gets 4 out of 5 for ratings, plus it's only $20.