The affordable and well-designed Philips Notebook SoundBar SPA5210B travels well and is a worthy upgrade over your internal laptop speakers.

We have few compliments to give the Altec Lansing Octane 7 speaker set. The awkwardly placed midrange driver and side-firing sub come off muddy and overbearing, and the constant adjustments aren't worth the cost, especially when Altec Lansing offers a better-sounding system for the same price.

We found a lot to like about the B&W MM-1 multimedia speakers, but their $500 price tag gives us pause.

We'd have a much easier time recommending the Logitech Z520's average sound quality and lack of features if it didn't cost $130. We'd rather point you toward the Logitech Z523 system that offers best-in-class sound quality (and a subwoofer to boot) at an affordable price.

Though they're not cheap, the Audioengine 2 speakers are an ideal combination of compact size and good looks, delivering great sound for their size.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a pair of powered stereo speakers at this price point that sound better--and offer more flexibility--than the Audioengine 5s.

Altec Lansing's Expressionist Plus FX3021 is a good compromise for someone looking for a compact, affordable 2.1 PC speaker set that delivers decent sound.

The Mint Studio Speaker System combines a great-sounding iPod speaker dock with the ability to wirelessly stream audio from any PC or Mac to up to three speaker docks.

M-Audio's Studiophile AV 30 speaker system delivers powerful, detailed sound in a relatively compact space, and does it all at a remarkably low price.

While the JBL Duet III speakers just don't have a lot of oomph to them, they look good and offer decent sound.