Laptop/Notebook Sound cards

[Greenlizard0]

Essentially, are there any good ones out there?

I'm going to be embarking on a period of time where I'll have my old laptop for company, and its Realtek sound is rubbish. I'll be listening to music predominantly, with the occasional movie. I won't be producing music or playing any games. I'd prefer a PCMCIA card as I have a port free but am open to USB suggestions.

Budget is unlimited but nothing silly; nothing more than £60 which is roughly $100.

The last time I posted this question two suggestions were given; the Edirol UA-1EX which doesn't have analogue headphone outputs, and the M-Audio TRANSIT which is USB.

Asus have thrown their Xonar USB U1 into things as well and it appears to favour well with reviewers.

Sorry if I've posted in the wrong sub forum, I wasn't sure where to create this thread.

[staffsMike]

You seem to have your finger on the pulse. I'd probably stay basic with the Xonar but I'm not that clued in right now

[Jasp]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BrandNew-Creative-Blaster-Audigy-2-ZS-PCMCIA-Sound-Card_W0QQitemZ170361148310QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_3?hash=item27aa50d396&_trksid=p3286.c0 .m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1683|293%3A1|294%3A50

Features hardware processing chip which all the later models lack, so does actually reduce CPU load. Apparently has a few issues if you use a ene controller on the slot.

Couple of reviews.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/multim...ZS-Notebook/p1

http://reviews.cnet.com/sound-cards/...-31156120.html

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Blast.../dp/B0007SXHO6

Given you don't have a express slot, the only real other suggestions is what you have mentioned already and the creative x-fi 5.1 usb.