Product Reviews

If you're the kind of person who's never without a laptop and find yourself wishing the quality of the audio from your miniature Mac would occasionally rise above barely audible, then the Altec Lansing XT2 speakers are for you.

Designed for laptop use, they connect to your Mac using a supplied USB cable, and can be powered from the USB port, although you may want to use the

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supplied power adaptor if you're running on battery power. The speakers themselves are around the size of an early mobile phone, although, thankfully, not as heavy.

The right speaker has volume and standby controls, and a mini-USB port on its rear. There are also ports for power, left speaker and sub-woofer outputs, and an auxiliary input jack. The left speaker conceals a cable and jack which, when not in use, retract and can be pulled out in order to connect to the right speaker.

In use, the XT2 speakers are a huge improvement on the built-in speakers on any portable Mac. Audio is crisp and bright, albeit a little lacking in bass. They're also more than loud enough for anything but a party in a large hall.

They're not cheap. However, you're not paying for audio quality; you're paying for the convenience of being able to take the XT2 with you wherever you go and not have to hunt for a second power outlet. In our book, they're worth every penny.