Dave2D
1 HN recommender · recommended in 3 months, 2022–2026
6:06 · 1.3M views · Apr 9, 2022
Dave2D looks at why MacBook speakers sound so much better than those on other laptops, with input from an audio researcher. He compares them against the best Windows laptop speakers.
Cited as support for the common claim that MacBook speakers are far ahead of other laptops.
3 comments from Hacker News
Regarding laptop speakers (in general) Dave2D recently uploaded an interesting video [0] where he compared MacBook speakers to best Windows laptop's ones that he had in the studio. It really does make you wonder why there such a noticeable difference! [0] this video
This sounds very exciting to me, however, the fact that it is a Windows laptop makes me sigh a bit. Why? Because they often seem to lack the fundamental experience that MacBooks have nailed. I have tried many touchpads, but nothing comes close to MacBooks. The tracking feels incredibly precise and consistent. The same goes for the speakers. It is surprising that no other laptop manufacturer has matched the sound quality Apple delivers. That is frustrating, because I genuinely want that same experience on a different system. I do not want to feel locked into MacBooks. I know the Youtube channel Dave2D did a video on this experience as well [1][2]. Another issue is how Windows laptops degrade over time. No matter how many I have tried, they eventually end up in a state where the fans spin up for no clear reason, the battery drains quickly, and I start getting notifications about low disk space even though I have not installed much. When I check the “Uninstall or remove apps” section, it does not clearly show what is actually taking up space. I often have to use tools like WinDirStat to discover leftover files from applications I already removed. These remnants build up and contribute to the system feeling bloated. I also start noticing small but frustrating delays, like the lag between pressing the Windows key and the Start menu appearing. BUT I do have an idea though, Nvidia will hopefully support Linux kernel, so if I have the opportunity to switch to one of these new machine
Possibly, but literally no other laptops sound anywhere near as good as Macbooks.[0] Apple has done some real magic in the laptop speaker space, and they've kept their secrets to themselves. Shame I always wear headphones. [0] this video