Dital audio OUT from a laptop

[scillyguy]

Hi Guys... very new to this
Do most new laptops have a digital audio out connection from the soundcard.
I have a yamaha amp with a digital audio aux in socket and am looking for a new laptop that will have an optical out from the soundcard to play my audio collection through the yamaha.
Do most laptops/soundcards have this facility or can anyone suggest a laptop (or soundcard) for laptop that would give me this facility.
Cheers. All answers gratefully received.

[meansizzler]

I know the macbook does, buy that and install windows, or better yet get a mackbook pro as it has a better graphics chipset..,windows runs fineo n it, just as good as any other laptop, alternatively get an expresscard soundblater...

[scillyguy]

Many thanks for the reply meansizzler.. I'll look into that. cheers.

[baz657]

I've got a Creative PCMCIA card in my (Acer WinXP) laptop - plugged into my Onkyo 605 using optical SPDIF. Works a treat, but did have initial problems getting a proper audio signal.

That was cured by using a beta version of VLC player which sends a raw audio signal to the amp and lets the amp convert it to whatever.

[lilohtpc]

Originally Posted by scillyguy

Hi Guys... very new to this
Do most new laptops have a digital audio out connection from the soundcard.
I have a yamaha amp with a digital audio aux in socket and am looking for a new laptop that will have an optical out from the soundcard to play my audio collection through the yamaha.
Do most laptops/soundcards have this facility or can anyone suggest a laptop (or soundcard) for laptop that would give me this facility.
Cheers. All answers gratefully received.

I suggest you check out ASUS Xonar U1. It's a headphone amp plus USB sound card. It also have Dolby Digital Live which can encode 5.1 pc gaming audio, or any other 5.1 from your laptop, into Dolby Digital AC-3.

Check this sharing out:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/blogs/tejstar-18051/245-asus-xonar-u1-my-thoughts.html

[Matt_C]

Originally Posted by meansizzler

I know the macbook does, buy that and install windows, or better yet get a mackbook pro as it has a better graphics chipset..,windows runs fineo n it, just as good as any other laptop, alternatively get an expresscard soundblater...

Or better still, get one and run it on OS X!!!! Makes far more sense