Newish ASUS laptop - sound is AWFUL - aibu to ask for tips/equipment recommendations?

[Graphista]

Lovely new laptop, works fine in every other way but when streaming the sound is bloody abysmal!

Thin, tinny and almost impossible to hear.

I have an echo dot which I have TRIED to connect on several occasions inc with "help" from Amazon "experts" who thus far have been unable to help me to actually connect it!

It's all very very frustrating.

Can anyone help me either sort the laptop or connect to the echo or recommend additional speakers? This is driving me nuts!

I'd say a big part of the problem is physically the speaker is on the bloody bottom of the laptop I mean I ask you! What idiot comes up with that idea?!

Please can someone help?

Restarting laptop see if that makes any difference - not holding my breath!

I'm trying to watch Now - the rookie.

The sound on S.W.A.T. Earlier was even bloody worse!

I'm not so much watching the shows as reading them with the subtitles! Which makes it very hard to follow with action programmes!

Echo has just SHOUTED! (At bloody 2am!) "now connected to laptop" so I do think it's the laptop at issue and not the dot

Have you found the master volume/sound section in the settings menu?

And you're absolutely sure there's no dropdown option to switch the output on the speaker now it's shouted at you?

It's working!! I have NO idea how cos I haven't done anything I've not done 20 bloody times before!!

What on Earth!

Under master volume there's a troubleshoot button try that.

Mumsnet hive mind giving it a telepathic kick up the arse

I literally did NOTHING else there except restart the laptop after connecting the echo BUT also that's the first time the echo has connected properly and I haven't done ANYTHING different to the easily 20 times I've tried this before.

It's bugging me I don't know WHY it's worked this time when it didn't all those previous times?

It's my magic IT powers!!

Mumsnet hive mind giving it a telepathic kick up the arse

Maybe! It's the ONLY thing that's different!

That means the servers it used randomly crashed or some other bit of code just stopped working. It happens.

I think you need to speak in English for me there @whatup

I used to be so good at tech now I'm turning into my technophobic father who couldn't text!

Until now I've been having to only watch now at night when it's cool enough to have the fans off cos I couldn't hear it over the fans! But tonight even with the fans off could barely hear it!

Also very frustrating that Now can't be accessed by fire tablet which is what I normally stream on which is connected to the dot no problem.

Such a palaver

I swear I sound 100 but I just WISH all this supposedly wonderful tech - that is supposed to work super easy and do all these weird and wonderful things - would just work when it comes to the basics!

Cor blimey. Ok it ran out of dried frog pills and sulked.

Sorry random terry Pratchett joke! What's wrong with the tablet exactly have you tried turning that on and off too? (Wish I was joking)

I swear I sound 100 but I just WISH all this supposedly wonderful tech - that is supposed to work super easy and do all these weird and wonderful things - would just work when it comes to the basics!

Nah, it's not you. I'm pretty tech minded myself but even now I've just said 'Alexa turn on the light' and she did her confirmation ding beep... but didn't turn on the light asked her again and she did.

She's a cow though. Never listens to me.

I seriously need a real basics refresher course. I used to bloody work in IT & telecoms support and I seem to have forgotten so so much everything and I'm completely out of the loop!

It's driving me nuts!

When I first got it I couldn't remember how to shut a windows computer down, I was trying to close it down as one would a pre windows computer

My brain needs the reboot!!

Honestly any recommendations for laptops for dummies courses most welcome!

I'm too used to using my phone and tablet

Tablet gets turned off and on around 7 times a day! Cos it stops streaming and SAYS It's cos I've no WiFi - except I can see on phone and laptop AND the router I HAVE got full WiFi the tablets just playing silly buggers!

She's a cow though. Never listens to me.

Omg I thought it was just me!

I end up swearing at her!

Cos even when I shout she doesn't always hear me it's infuriating!

The other day I went

"Alexa remind me at 6pm set aside laundry for tomorrow"

And she goes

"I'll remind you at 6pm tomorrow"

And I'm like

"No! Remind me today"

I end up arguing with the damn thing!

Also you know on the ads it makes out you can ask shit like

"When was x hit no 1 in the Uk?"

Or

"What's the tallest mountain in Ireland?"

Mine can't do that stuff. Just always answers

"Hmm I don't know that one"

You used to work in IT support? What department?

Telecoms overseas

20 odd years ago mind.

Very "industry specific" actually company specific and it will have changed LOADS since then.

But I am still annoyed that I've forgotten sodding basics like how to turn it off!!

It's partly meds related as the ones I'm on can fuck with cognitive stuff.

My favourite was my ex who said 'Alexa's got some sass' and she said 'I've added sex to your shopping list'

Read pc world magazine, and pc gaming magazine. I'm sure there's loads more for windows and the basics and whatever you want to do pc wise.

Where it really gets nuts is I have a friend called Alex. I have to NOT say her name when I answer phone to her as otherwise Alexa decides to get chatty when I'm trying to hear what my friend is saying!

Alex has had to change the name of her echo to something else as obviously her name gets said a lot in her house.