I’m helping a friend shop for a laptop for BIAB. And I don’t know much about laptops.

The intent is to have BIAB output go out of the lappy directly to the amplifier and speakers of a digital piano (Clavinova), no audio interface. We’ve done this using a desktop - all OK.

Now when I look at laptops in the store, from the cheapest to the grandest, it seems they all have only one audio output - a headphone jack. I know it is possible to run the headphone out of the computer to the Clavinova (Did that too. OK but volume seemed low). But I was expecting (hoping) to see other outputs like “line-out” , “audio-out”, etc. in the laptops.

So, my questions are -

1. Is there any downside to simply using the laptop’s headphone jack (I’m thinking output voltage, EQ, etc. of a headphone jack may be different than an “audio-out”)?

2. Do all laptops have only a headphone jack as and audio out or do some come with a more robust offering (like audio-out)?

3. Short of investing in a USB audio interface, what are some other options (headphone amplifier, ...)?

4. Any other recommendations or experiences?

Thanks.

kelso

Dell Desktop XPS 8100 W10 HomePrem/64 / Core i5 760 (quad, 2.8GHz) / 8GB DDR3 / 1 TB SATA / ViewSonic VG2428wm / EMU1616 PCI / Event ASP6 Active Monitors / BIAB 2019 64 bit (609) / Cakewalk