2010 laptops with S/PDIF support

The laptops no longer have spdif. Dell stopped providing a spdif port at the same time they started including an HDMI port.

There is no internal upgrade card for the laptops. The only hardware upgrade would be to add an external sound card, either usb or in the Express card slot. So your solution would be to use the optical spdif port on an external sound card to connect to the DAC which seems kind of redundant, or get a usb DAC and go directly to it from the usb port.

Thanks for replying, jimco. Another (non-Dell) forum has this information:

"Many soundcards integrate SPDIF output into the analog 3.5mm jack, as in the case with the SB X-Fi. What you need is a digital coax SPDIF cable, and a 3.5mm-Mono RCA adapter, remember it has to be mono and not stereo, you can get it from RadioShack. You will then connect the adapter to one end of the SPDIF cable, and plug the adapter into the 3.5mm output jack, and the other end of the cable into your digital speakers or receiver."

Does this not apply to current Dell laptops? I have not been able to find any specs on the audio options for the Inspiron 15 or Studio 5 laptops, which would otherwise be suitable for my purpose.

I should mention that my audio system only accepts digital inputs, so I couldn't use a sound card's DAC, even if I wanted to. I have a CD player connected directly to my amps, and the player can accept coaxial or optical inputs, up to 24/96. It doesn't seem the SB external card(s) output 24/96 under Windows 7, but I may be wrong about that.

This is in an effort to use a laptop to stream digital audio to my stereo in perference to the perenially forthcoming Squeezebox Touch, which, in any case, seems a lot of money for a dedicated device with a tiny display.

I look in the user manuals Specifications section to find out the audio on the motherboard, The Inspiron 1545 for example has IDT 92HD71. That is IDT's basic stereo HD audio chip. Then to find out what options might be available I go to Dell product site and "Customize It" and "Personalize". The sound options are

Soundblaster X-Fi Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled [add $25]
Advanced External Sound Option (Ships Separately)
ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Laptop Sound Card with Wireless Receiver Bundle [add $130 or $1/month1]
ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Sound Card [add $80]

The 1st one is software and the other 2 are the external add-on cards.

"I should mention that my audio system only accepts digital inputs, so I couldn't use a sound card's DAC, even if I wanted to"

I didn't mean the sound card's DAC. I meant that you could connect your DAC to the spdif of the external sound card (which usually have optical) or if your DAC had usb you could connect directly to the computer and avoid the redundancy of the sound card.  I don't know which type of spdif the Extreme has. I can't tell from the Creative site but a reviewer on Amazon said that it is optical.

Basically, all I need is a laptop with an onboard sound chip that will ouput S/PDIF up to 24/95, and where the laptop sends it out the phono jack. For all I know, the 1545 does that. Dell doesn't really document this kind of stuff. I don't care what DAC it has, nor what software comes with it.

"Basically, all I need is a laptop with an onboard sound chip that will ouput S/PDIF"

I understand that, and as I said you cannot get that capability on a current model of Dell laptop. You would have to add an external sound card or audio interface that has spdif (or get an older Dell or different brand).

"where the laptop sends it out the phono jack."

The laptops do not have phono jacks, just mini phone jacks. I don't even know of an external card that has spdif on a phono jack, as I said most of them that have spdif have the optical kind. The old Dell laptops that had spdif did have coaxial spdif on a phono jack by way of a breakout cable.

"For all I know, the 1545 does that. 

As I said it doesn't.

"Dell doesn't really document this kind of stuff"

I agree that Dell's audio documentation is lacking. However you can glean plenty of info from the Specifications section of the 1545 Setup Guide, page 59, the Audio and Connectors categories. It is also useful to check out the diagrams on pages 14 to 22 where you can see what ports the computer has. Interestingly the 1545 model does not even have an HDMI port.

" I don't care what DAC it has"

I never said anything about the laptop's DAC.

..."nor what software comes with it."

You said that you not been able to find the audio options for the Inspiron 15 and in your first post you referred to "the SB X-FI internal upgrade card" so I pasted the options into this thread to try to clarify a couple of things for you. As you can see, the only internal upgrade option is "Soundblaster X-Fi Hi Def Audio" which is software. As I said in my first post there is no internal hardware upgrade for the laptops.

You've been a great help, man. I had no idea USB sound cards even existed. Turtle Beach is coming out with the Micro II soon and it outputs S/PDIF. If it supports 24/96, I should be all set. I assume laptops (I've never owned one) recognize the card and let you choose it over the one on the mobo.

Yes, in the audio control panel you will be able to choose which one to be the default audio device. You can have either one but not both at the same time. Usually when a usb audio device is installed it automatically becomes the default without having to be selected.