I use an external sound card and my ear phones plug into that on my Dell. I find this so much bette

• EARPHONES AND DELL COMPUTERS - need help
  • Dell Computers - Aunt Cindy
  • speaker plug-in - **
  • Adjust sound card sm - headphones
  • I use an external sound card and my ear phones plug into that on my Dell. I find this so much bette - AzMT
  • Try the front jack on the front of the CPU if it has one- or on the - external speakers - also push it in all the way- s
  • On my Dell, it's a green outlet 2/3 down the back side of the case. sm - Nyer
  • How many sets of earphones have you tried on it? - it's probably not the Dell

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I am having problems with my sound on one of my computers.  Several different ExText program have been on it so I don't think it is the program and the sound is just now as clear as on my other computer.  Has anyone switched (disconnected the internal sound care and replaced) to a new sound card?  Did it make a difference. 

Everyone on this board is so knowledgeable, I really appreciate you.  You have helped me many times. 

I'm not sure what the name of it is, but you connect to it via USB.  It costs $50.00 and says the sound quality is significantly better than standard sound cards,  you can transfer cassettes and LPs to MP3 files, ....  My main concern is I want an increase in sound quality of my wav files. 

Just wondering if the sound quality is really that much better.  I have notebook computers and the PC cards are $100.00.  I was thinking this might be a substitute for the PC card. 

you should have excellent quality.  If the sound card is within your computer, you should hook the ear phones directly up to the computer.  If not, you can install an external sound card and plug your ear phones into that.  I have the external and have absolutely wonderful sound quality.  On my lap tap I have an internal sound card and, again, have wonderful sound quality.  I have speakers, but don't use them.  If I unplug my ear phones, the speakers work, but I honestly can't say the last time I did that.  I always use my ear phones.

My cat just stepped on my keyboard...Now I have two of them sitting right in front of me.  Lovely, I guess they want my attention.

My daughter made it to the state tournament for softball All-Stars and we are headed up to the high country in the cool 80s.  We will be out of this 115 degree weather for a week.  Yippeee!  That is something I love about Arizona.  You just have a couple-hour drive and you are up in the cool mountain air.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday! 

I am new to this site, and I love it already!  It will definitely come in handy for starting up with my MT job again.... Its been about a year.

Just had a question for those of you that might be more computer savvy than I... which isn't hard.    For my new MT job, I need my computer to have a SoundBlaster Compatible Sound Card.

Say what?!

I have no idea how to know if my computer has this already or if I need to purchase it.  I don't wanna sound completely dumb before even starting the job fully by asking this question of them.... eek!

Plz help!  Thanks!

A lot of MT companies use older software that is not compatible with Vista. So for me, if I were considering buying a new computer, that would be a major consideration.

Other than that, if you are planning on using it primarily for transcription and other home uses (no high-tech graphic video games, for example), just get the biggest "bang for your buck". The fastest processor, the most RAM, the biggest hard drive in your price range.

I would definitely recommend a flat screen monitor. My eyes don't get nearly as tired with my flat screen as they did with my regular monitor.

Make sure you get the extended warranty, again, MAKE SURE YOU GET THE EXTENDED WARRANTY. And, here is why.

My first laptop went out on my, though it was a couple of years old.  Because I had the extended warranty, a service tech came to my house, replaced motherboard, hard drive, heat sink, and keyboard.  He was able to back up everything first and restored it once all the new stuff was in place. 

One of my PCs kept giving some weird blue screen error and I couldn't get to go even in safe mode. I called up Dell, told them the problem, they looked up my extended warranty and they sent someone out to repair it.

Overall, I have been happy with Dell products.  The only drag is that everything Dell sells regarding accessories is proprietary and you have to order it through Dell.  No generic accessories will work.  My suggestion is if you decide to buy a Dell laptop, make sure you get the car power supply and you might even get a 2nd regular power supply because I have been known to leave town and forget the power supply at the house.  Now, I have everything in my laptop bag for when I go out of town and can just throw my laptop in the bag and know everything is there.

Lastly, some Dell laptops require a special aircard to connect to the internet.  I ended up getting a 2 cabled USB air card and I'm glad I did because 2 USB plug ins give better reception than one.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. I'm happy to help.

was a piece of junk, so I'm not the one to ask if you should buy a Dell.   I'd get at least double that processor speed.  My computer is about 10 months old and I have 5 times that, which means that there is probably something faster out now, or soon will be.  It is more than I need for work, but I also use computer to download music/pictures, and a bunch of other stuff.   The Dell I had had 650 mHz and it was slow and that was almost 6 years ago.   You may have to customize anyway to get XP unless you buy one previously owned, which you can also buy from Dell.   It is always a good idea to buy bigger than you need currently just to allow for updates to any software or new software you may add.    You need to also think about tech support.  I know Dell has tech support in India, which can be extremely frustrating.  I don't know that other computer companies don't offshore their tech support, but that would be a question I would ask and find out if there is a locally authorized dealer to handle warranty repairs or if you need to send off the computer.    I would not recommend a Gateway computer and I would not recommend any computer that has a Celeron processor.   They tend to be in all the lower end computers. 

bigger the monitor the better, but I have a 14" one and have been using it for 6 years.  Absolutely get as much RAM as you can, no less than 512.  You don't need a supersize hard drive unless you want to store music/pictures, but you should have a backup of them because computers have been known to crash and you wouldn't want to lose them.   Most everything now is USB and I would say get a minimum of 2 ports.  You can buy a hub for under $30.00 (saw a 4 port hub today on sale for $10.00) to add USB ports.   I would get one that had wireless capability.   I would also get one that has at least a DVD player if not a recorder.  Usually if they have DVD they have a CD recorder so you can burn songs/pictures.  I suggest the DVD in case you need some down time from caretaking and you want to watch a movie.

I have a Dell and an HP.  My Dell has been a piece of junk from day one.   I've had my HP for 3-1/2 years without any problems other than a software glitch, which wasn't an equipment problem. 

When buying a computer consider repair issues.  With my Dell I had to send the computer to them so I was without a computer for approximately 2 weeks, plus shipping charges of about $30.00.   You can buy an in-home repair policy though.  With my HP I bought it from a local electronics store and I could get in-store service. 

I also would not get a Celeron processor - get either a Pentium or a Centrino  (which is supposed to be really good).  The Celeron is not as good of quality and is usually found in the lower end computers.

I got a catalog from Dell today and I just glimpsed at it, but they had a laptop on the cover for $649 (I think). 

You may want to attach an external monitor (I don't) or use a box of some kind to elevate the computer.  They have boxes at the office supply store in the computer area that have trays for storage or a place to put your keyboard and that is about the right height.  I would also suggest an external mouse.   If you need a new keyboard/mouse I'd go wireless.  If you want to be somewhat mobile, like sitting in the backyard in the shade unhooking and hooking everything up gets to be a pain and if you just want to diddle and not work you can use the laptop keyboard and not have to take the other keyboard and mouse. 

If you are used to a large monitor that is probably your biggest adjustment, the rest is fairly easy and may take some trial and error to get everything worked out. 

I have LOTS of peripherals on both my laptop and desktop Dells and they certainly didn't come from Dell. You've been misinformed.

I love my Dells.