Portable speakers
Frankly speaking, the speakers built into most laptops are terrible. They sound bad and are not meant to fill a cubicle, let alone a room. Whether you're a gamer or an MP3 junkie, dealing with crappy sound doesn't need to be an issue anymore. Check out these portable speakers to give your house, office, or dorm room a little extra thump.

The SoundPax Portable Speakers are quite a bit bigger than the other speakers in this roundup, but at $69, hardly more expensive. Plus, they offer great sound that will get your party started. Designed for mobility, these cardboard speakers are particularly lightweight and fold into a traffic cone-looking pyramid that's 12 inches wide, 16 inches high, and only 2.5 inches thick. The SoundPax speakers come with their own nylon carrying case and a digital audio amp. No PC-related installation is needed, and setting up the speakers is fairly simple--an included sheet guides you through. Just put batteries in the amp and connect the included color-coded speaker wires to the amp and your laptop (or MP3 player or CD player). Although we heard some distortion at higher volume levels and the bass is a little weak, these speakers produced louder and better-quality sound than the laptop speakers and other external speakers we looked at.

Folded up, Sony's gunmetal-gray SRS-T77 is about the size of a two-disc CD jewel case. The little system weighs only 12 ounces when loaded with four AA batteries; it's even lighter when you use the optional AC power pack instead of batteries. To set up the T77, unfold the speakers and swivel the foot out from the bottom of the slender unit. The T77 slants back a few degrees to direct the sound up toward your ears. The speakers lack a volume button, so you're left at the mercy of your laptop's audio controls. We found the Sony SRS-T77's sound pleasant and detailed, although we detected some hiss. Sony claims the T77's Dynamic Sound Ducts enhance bass reproduction, but don't get your hopes up--its pair of 1.5-inch woofers won't rattle your cage. The Sony speakers sound best at low to moderate levels and can go really loud before distorting. We found the Sony SRS-T77 selling for $60 online--reasonable, considering the set's size and quality.

Kensington's PocketSpeakers are the most portable speakers we've looked at and are also the easiest to set up. However, they offer just slightly better sound quality than most laptops' built-in speakers, so you might want to think twice about throwing down $49 for them. At 3 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 1 inch thick, they may be just a little too big for the average pocket but will slide easily into your laptop bag. The included USB cord is retractable, which helps avoid clutter, and the speakers have a small volume control wheel. The PocketSpeakers require no assembly and come with a simple and easy-to-follow setup guide. There is no software to install, which limits you to the options your control panel offers. We found the speakers' sound unimpressive and particularly light on the bass. They're loud enough to fill a midsize room without significant distortion, though as you crank up the volume, the sound gets increasingly tinny.

These little speakers offer better sound than what you'll get from most laptops' built-in speakers, but they don't offer enough to warrant their $61 price. The USB Sound Walker speaker set includes two 4-inch-tall speakers, an installation CD, and a cute carrying case. However, there's absolutely no guidance on how to set up these speakers or how to use the included software. The Sound Walker system offers a variety of features, including 5.1 virtual surround sound, but we heard no noticeable difference with that option selected. The speakers' software controls also let you adjust the sound based on the type of music you're listening to and your listening environment. After fiddling with these settings, we got something approaching full sound out of the speakers, but they still lacked bass and often sounded tinny, and when we cranked it up to 5 (out of 10), the sound became distorted.