Altec Lansing Technologies IMT227 OrbitM Ultra Portable Speakers Altec Lansing Technologies IMT227 OrbitM Ultra Portable Speakers

Pros: Purchased a pair of these to supplement the sound system of the various laptops I own. I had a pair of Altec Lansing 2.0 speakers that I had purchased in the late 90s and was very impressed with the quality at the time, so I gave this unit a shot.

Obviously as a small battery powered unit, it's not going to equal a good 2.0 set. However, it's definitely a superior choice for someone on the go. While the audio signature is not exactly flat, both the highs and lows are well represented given the size of the device.

But the real improvement over most laptop speakers is the overall loudness of the unit. While there is no volume knob on the unit, cranking the volume up via your desktop controls will result in a very audible signal. So if you are hard of hearing, these could be an option for you.

One last point is that the battery life on these units are excellent. They use AAA batteries, but even after a year of use (albeit mostly for movies on my laptop) I am still on the first set of alkalines.

Cons: Again, the signal is not perfect. But it's not especially anomalous/distracting, and its certainly better than quite a few dedicated 2.0 sets I've had over the years. So I wouldn't really ding it, unless you are really sensitive. Of course, if that's the case then you probably won't be looking for one of these units. Certainly not at this price point, at any rate.

Other Thoughts: Apparently there are similar units floating around out there from Altec Lansing that are USB powered so if you need a portable speaker that's does not require batteries, those other models may provide an adequate solution. Of course, these other models may or may not have the same signal quality as the IMT227; either way, since they are a separate product any further commentary on them would really fall outside the domain of this review.