Re: Considering getting a new laptop, but I have a question
I don't want to make the same mistake that I did last time by purchasing a Dell. (Waves Maxx just irritates me to this day) What laptop companies leaveheadphone audio alone?
Ugh I hate Max Audio too. Fortunately there are ways to disable it; I had to deal with precisely this when I got my new Dell machine last June.
I reformatted the machine practically the moment I received it. Windows 10 makes this easy, iirc in settings you just go to reset your PC and you can reinstall Windows from there. I can't remember the exact steps, but I installed Windows from an iso image so it's a clean installation. If your machine is anything like mine, the product key will already be set up for you from the factory, and if you reinstall Windows from within Windows itself, your key should carry over. It's a nice quick way to get the bloatware off, then you can get rid of Max Audio if you like.
On my Dell desktop, I was able to install older Realtek drivers from my previous Realtek sound card. I've been using it like that for months, and apart from some minor hiccups I had while trying to get it to work the way I wanted, it went smoothly to my utter amazement. I'm using it like that right now and I couldn't ask for anything better.
If you can't find comparable drivers to replace Max audio with, there's always the option of just using the generic HD audio driver which comes with all machines. That does leave headphone audio alone, but will keep you from accessing any special features of your sound card like Stereo mix, microphone boost, audio enhancements, extended bit depth/sampling rates etc. so far as I know. If you don't need any of that, then you can use the generic audio driver, but I have heard on some laptops it makes the sound very quiet especially on speakers, as some sound cards apply processing on speakers to attempt to get the tinniness out and amplify the sound. I've seen laptops do it.
Of course, fussing about with your sound drivers does require you to mess around with device manager and modify stuff that you shouldn't take lightly. Screw up and you'll have no sound. So if you're going to do that, make doubly sure you have a working USB sound card or headset that you can use until your main sound card is sorted out. That said, you shouldn't break things too badly. If worse comes to worst, you can uninstall sound drivers and have Windows Update repair them. This should happen automatically if needed, at least it did on my desktop. It gave me Max Audio back in that case, but at least I had sound and I could start over with trying to get it off.
So, while I'd do my research if I were you, I wouldn't avoid Dells or anything else which come with Max Audio. Sadly I think it's sort of becoming more common. How common I don't really know, but if push comes to shove, it's going to be easier to get the physical specs you want and get Max Audio off of there than it will be to go the other way around I think.
Admittedly I haven't looked much into laptops or alternate brand pcs or anything like that, though, so perhaps most people do find success just avoiding Max Audio entirely and getting something from a different brand? I honestly don't know, so yeah, do your research before you purchase, and let us know what you find.
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