Last year, when my very reliable Lenovo P580 laptop trashed it's hard drive, I replaced it with another Lenovo--a 110. I knew it was a cheap laptop but I don't do any gaming with it and it has worked fine with one exception--sound. The internal speakers are very weak. The 580 had a much better sound system but the 110 sound is barely audible even on highest setting, and it's a major complaint with the machine.

Sound is fine with headphones but I don't want to have to wear them everytime I want to hear something.
It has an external audio out port for a 4 segment jack. "combo audio jack' I think they call it.

I do NOT have a use for a mic. I hardly ever use it without being connected to AC power.
Lenovo Ideapad 110 specifications

15.6-inch (1366 x 768 pixels) TN display
Intel Pentium N3710 Processor (1.60GHz 1600MHz 2MB) with Intel HD Graphics
4GB RAM (up to 8GB), 1TB HDD
Windows 10 Home
Built-in DVD Recordable Drive
Stereo Speakers with Dolby Audio, 3.5 mm Combo Audio Jack
USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI, RJ45 Ethernet and 4-in-1 Card Reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC)
Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi 802.11 ac
Dimensions: 378 x 265 x 22.9; Weight: 2.2 kg
24WH battery

What kind of external speakers would help this unit and do I need some kind of adapter or dongle to use them?
This?


What speaker set would I need--would they need to have their own amplifier?
Recommendations? (I'm NOT an audiophile--I just need a little more volume)

Unrelated to the computer itself, I have a printer hooked up via USB and it works fine, but any time it is on, a wireless connection option appears in my connection window. I originally opted to skip the wireless setup and went USB, but if I could get it to function wireless, it would clean up my desk a bit. Exactly what key code is it asking for here--the code on my Verizon jetpack or something else? For wireless to work, do I need to reconfigure something in the printer setup and leave the usb cord disconnected?

I just have a couple of computer speakers connected to the earphone jack and 110v. One speaker plugs into that with I think a 3 contact stereo cable, and the other speaker plugs into a 2 contact female connector in the first speaker. There is a separate volume control and on/off, and balance control on the first speaker. If I use them on the laptop where theres no where to plug it in, they also are AA battery powered. Ive got several sets for around $20 each.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 12-29-2017).]

There are a LOT of cheap external speaker sets that you can use. Single units... whatever. Best place to go in my opinion is www.NewEgg.com and just look up peripherals and whittle it down to the cost / size you want:

https://www.newegg.com/Prod...Speakers&isdeptsrh=1


There's plenty of single or stereo external speakers that you can hook up. Some of which can even get their power directly by the USB port.


I didn't see you directly asking this, but just wanted to mention it in case it wasn't clear. If you hook a normal stereo male jack into that stereo/microphone jack, it will still work just fine. Essentially, the normal stereo jack will "ground-out" the microphone input, and the computer will not use it. Totally normal and acceptable.

Any speakers with 3.5mm should work. I like a sound bar and can often be found cheap. Altec Lansing, Klipsch, Logitech and many others if you want to spend some actual money. Those 3 really being on the low end of things, but not bad for sound.

I'd recommend running the HP setup wizard and it will install the printer to the network. The box you are referring too is probably just the WPS for your router and should be printed on a sticker. If you go the software route you usually get access to their diagnostic tools and such, which may or may not be useful. Most of our printing is done via phones, I am the only one who really uses a computer, so I have the software on our home server, but not on any other machines. If you need help, let me know.

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[This message has been edited by tshark (edited 09-08-2018).]

quote Originally posted by tshark: That printer has a feature generally called wifi direct. You can connect to the printer wirelessly using this feature and print on an APIPA network. Be advised, however, that you will not be able to be simultaneously connected to your home wireless for things like internet. If you use wifi for internet, you may be better served by connecting the printer to your home wifi. On a side note, look up lenovo and spyware, malware, etc. I'll let you read all about it. Lenovo is a chinese company that sells under the guise of IBM. You should also read about the driver-related issues.

I understand this tech, but I just don't understand it's practical application. 1 have to disconnect from whatever internet source. 2 You often have to have a code. I mean maybe you don't want someone remote printing on a network? If they have access to the network though, I just don't get the benefit. I've had it on a number networks I've built and never set it up that way. If I don't want a guest printing to something I don't allow access to it.

[This message has been edited by ls3mach (edited 12-30-2017).]

quote Originally posted by tshark: ...you may be better served by connecting the printer to your home wifi. On a side note, look up lenovo and spyware, malware, etc. I'll let you read all about it. Lenovo is a chinese company that sells under the guise of IBM. You should also read about the driver-related issues.

Yep! As tshark says. You can actually connect the printer directly to your router's WiFi, and that solves all your problems. Also... more than likely, if it has WiFi, it also has a built-in Ethernet cable, which means you can just hook in the printer to your router directly. You can usually configure the printer's network address manually, but more than likely, if you just plug it into the router, and then install the software on your laptop (without it being connected via USB), then it should search your local network using the default configuration, and then will configure it manually for you, remotely.


As for the Lenovo stuff, yeah. Not a good laptop for government work, or anything that involves intellectual property (IE: at a corporation). That said... MOST of their laptops are still at the same level of quality as the old IBM laptops were before they sold off the factory to China and named it Lenovo.

As a normal private user at home, there's really nothing that you need to be concerned with, but you may choose to get rid of the spyware for privacy reasons. Search for "SuperFish" which is a cert that's loaded into Windows that allows encrypted personal data to be sent back and forth from your computer to Lenovo offices. There is also some software that's hard-coded into the system's UEFI / CMOS which, if it detects that SuperFish has been removed, will automatically reload it on any version of Windows from 10 through 7. It does this without you knowing it. They were busted, and later versions of the firmware have that removed (or just better hidden I suspect).

Bottom line, run Malwarebytes and update your BIOS firmware when you get the chance.


But... I think Lenovo sells pretty nice laptops, even the cheap ones. I have a Lenovo Netbook that I run Kali Linux on, and I'm not really bothered by that stuff.

No conventional router. No cable, no highspeed (fiber optic) phone lines in this area, and never will be.
I use this:
https://www.verizonwireless...-jetpack-mifi-7730l/

Only other option here is satellite which is fairly expensive but probably more capable.

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[This message has been edited by tshark (edited 09-08-2018).]

quote Originally posted by maryjane: No conventional router. No cable, no highspeed (fiber optic) phone lines in this area, and never will be. I use this: https://www.verizonwireless...-jetpack-mifi-7730l/ Only other option here is satellite which is fairly expensive but probably more capable.

They sell USB dongles which have the cellular receiver built in. If you decide to buy one of those (~$35) you can then plug it in directly to the USB port in the back of many newer ASUS routers, and it'll allow you to operate a normal home router using your MiFi.

I'm not really concerned about the SuperFish cert... China is really looking for big corporations and the errant Federal agency that defies recommendations from NIST and US CERT and uses them on their Federal network. For the normal user, you're fine. I like Lenovo laptops, and as I said, I use one myself.

What I would do, is go through and uninstall all the BS software that IBM pre-installs on there from the "OEM build..." minus the drivers. But you should update the firmware (UEFI / CMOS). Lenovo has "promised" that they've eliminated the traffic sniffer.

http://news.lenovo.com/news...ent-on-superfish.htm


Obviously, I think they're lying... but either way, they're probably doing it much more discretely. Still, update your firmware to get rid of anything that reloads it automatically.


But... no offense, you're a "small fish," just like I am... they're not looking for Todd and / or Don's banking transactions. They're looking to conduct corporate espionage.
EDIT: Here you go MJ... I forgot to include a link. Here is a simple ASUS router that does everything you need / want, and allows you to plug in a MiFi USB device so your entire household can use the router, AND have multiple connections:

https://www.newegg.com/Prod...Item=N82E16833320174

Also, here is an example of a USB dongle that works with Verizon and allows you to use 4G that you can plug into the router: https://www.newegg.com/Prod...?Item=9SIADS65TS2417

Obviously, money doesn't grow on trees, and I just gave you a $300 shopping list. But there are much cheaper options...

[This message has been edited by 82-T/A [At Work] (edited 12-30-2017).]