If you're not entirely sure about the right sound card to buy for your laptop, then it's probably best to go with the standardized PCMCIA sound cards. PCMCIA stands for Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA). It's a non-profit organization of more than 500 companies which has been in existence since 1989.

Soundcards 101

All laptops have the PCMIA card slots on them. Originally, PCMIA only produced PC cards to add extra memory to the computer. But with the advent of multimedia technology, they have been producing other types of PC cards for different purposes. One of these is the PCMIA sound card.

This audio card works pretty much like your garden-variety sound card. The only difference is that this one is attached to a laptop. For purposes of temperature regulation and to maximize space, an external sound card is the next best thing to use in laptop computers. It has the same functionality as any other external sound card and, it also has three kinds for you to choose from depending on your preference.

Which is right for your computer?

Again, choosing the right PCMIA sound card for your laptop depends on what you would like the audio functionality for. If you use your laptop for simple audio purposes like listening to music every now and then, you can go for the 2.1 PCMIA audio card. If you're a movie buff and are very particular with audio quality, you should get the 7.1 kind. Of course, there's always the 5.1 type which is sort of the middle ground option. Just make sure that your laptop can handle the high-end variety so you can maximize the audio quality produced by your PCMIA card.