If you’re tired of wasting your time trying to download the music you already own or have downloaded on your phone to your laptop in order to play it, then it is time to give you a solution to your troubles. For anyone who’s wondering if you can use your laptop as a speaker, we’ve got all the answers.
Yes, you can use your laptop as a speaker for various devices, including your phone and even another computer. The most important facet in doing so, however, is utilizing the Bluetooth functionality of the device.
Most speakers nowadays use Bluetooth technology to connect to other electronic devices and output the sound that is produced. A laptop, we believe, can work similarly. And by using the Bluetooth connection in a variety of ways can operate as a speaker for all your audio listening needs and requirements.
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Can A Laptop Be Used As A Speaker?
As we mentioned above, it is very well possible to use your laptop as a speaker for your audio listening needs. A laptop can already function as a speaker anyway if you’re streaming content on it or listening to music on Youtube. You can simply set the audio output to its internally connected speakers, and voila!
So the prospect of being able to use your laptop for a makeshift speaker is pretty high. However, we would like to say that not all laptop speakers are built similarly. Some lower-end laptop brands tend to cut down on costs by putting weak or less durable speakers within their laptops.
What this means is that even if you are quite easily able to use your laptop as a speaker, whether or not you should is pretty debatable. In most cases, we’d say that it is just better to go out and get a dedicated speaker or Bluetooth speaker for whatever your purpose for using the device is.
However, if you simply can’t afford a separate device for this purpose or are short on time and need to use a laptop as a speaker as soon as possible, with no potential for alternatives, then we’ll be discussing all how you can do so in the following sections.
Ways You Can Use Your Laptop As A Speaker
Within this section, we’ll be discussing a few ways that you can use your laptop as a speaker. These methods, for the most part, will allow you to use your device in a variety of ways and will be able to suit almost all types of laptops currently available within the market space.
As we discussed earlier, if you have very poor speakers installed on your laptop, you might face several problems especially low audio quality, heavy distortion, and low volume. However, if you’ve got a good pair of speakers installed into the laptop, then chances are that you will have a better experience.
So let’s delve deeper into the ways that we’ve got for you to be able to use your laptop as a speaker. We will aim to provide you with as much detail regarding each step so that you have the best possible chance of making the conversion safely and accurately.
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1. Direct Bluetooth Connection
One of the simplest methods that can be used to use your laptop as a Bluetooth speaker is by direct Bluetooth connection. This connection is supposed to be established between the laptop, which you want to function as speakers, and the media-player device, such as a phone, that you want to use.
The entire process of accomplishing this connection is super easy and intuitive. Most of the work will be done by the Windows software, if you have that installed, on your laptop. And you will, for the most part, not have to do anything additional to formulate this connection.
Step 1
The first step is obviously to ensure that you have Bluetooth functionality enabled on your laptop. If this option is disabled, then not only will you not be able to connect your two devices, but rather no progress will be made on either end as the devices simply will not be able to find each other.
The best method to quickly and efficiently do this is to open your laptop’s Settings option. You should be able to locate this in several places. The first would be in your laptop’s Start Menu. But you can also, alternatively, find this menu option through the search bar available next to the Start Menu.
To use the search bar, simply type “Settings” and Press Enter. This should be enough to help you find the option that you are looking for within this section.
Once the Settings option has opened, you will find a list of other options on the left-hand side. Look for the Bluetooth & devices option that should be located underneath the System option. Click on it, and you should find yourself precisely on the Bluetooth settings menu.
Now just enable your Bluetooth setting, and that should be all you need to do to begin connecting your laptop with another device.
Step 2
Now you must also enable your Bluetooth adapter for your phone. How you might do this might differ based on the operating system that you have installed within your phone. However, for most android phones, the option is fairly easy to reach. Simply follow these steps:
- Power On your phone on.
- Navigate to the Settings App
- Scroll down till you locate the Bluetooth option
- Click on the Bluetooth option, and you will find another menu
- Toggle the Bluetooth option On and set your phone to discoverable.
And there we have it, the quick and easy method to enable Bluetooth on your phone. This might differ slightly for iPhone users and anyone using a different type of phone. However, the basic steps might remain similar nonetheless.
Step 3
Your task now is going to be simple. You have to look over the list of discoverable Bluetooth devices that might appear on your laptop screen and locate your phone. The phone might be named after the brand it belongs to, or it might be the model of the device. It might also be a unique name that you set.
Regardless, as soon as you find your phone, we suggest that you click on it and Press Pair. So that the two devices can be connected, however, the two devices must remain within a certain distance from each other. They can touch, but they can’t be pulled too far apart or you risk losing connection.
Step 4
Now that the two devices are connected there should be a variety of options that you can choose that will help you set up your laptop as a speaker. The most important of which will be the option to access your laptop’s speakers or the option that states that you might utilize your laptop as a headset.
Once you’ve selected whichever option appears for you, then there is only the simple matter of finding a music application on your phone and turning on your tunes to test it out. And there we go, now you can use your laptop as a speaker, and all you had to do was connect it via Bluetooth.
2. Using The Bluetooth Audio Receiver Application
Back around in the May of 2020 a new update was received by most Windows laptops and PCs that allowed for the A2DP functionality to be usable with its Bluetooth connections. A2DP is technically known as Advanced Audio Distribution Profile.
It is a Bluetooth profile that particularly enables the communication of multimedia media audio, such as music, between two compatible devices that support this particular function. It is extremely reliable and has a strong connection that can be of great service to anyone.
There exist many applications that attempt to utilize this functionality of Windows PCs, and especially laptops, to use them as primary speakers or loudspeakers. We shall be looking at the usage of an application called Bluetooth Audio Receiver, that can achieve this function for us.
Follow these steps to be able to use your laptop as a speaker with the application.
- Make sure that you have an updated Windows, either 10 or Windows 11
- Next, Download Bluetooth Audio Receiver from the Windows store on your laptop
- Turn on Bluetooth settings on your PC and your Phone.
- Connect to your laptop by using your phone to click on the name of your PC
- Open Bluetooth Audio Receiver and navigate to the device you just connected.
- Click the Open Connection button.
- Once you’re done using your laptop as a speaker, click Close Connection.
And there you go, another way that you can use your laptop as a speaker for your music and audio listening goals.
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3. Using Your Laptop As A Speaker With A Wired Mic
The final way that we will discuss how to use your laptop as a speaker is by connecting a wired microphone to it. And using the internal functions of most laptops allows it to output the audio received by your mic out of the speaker installed within the laptop.
This method is super simple and fairly short, so you should be able to get it set up in no time. Simply follow these steps:
- Connect your microphone’s cable to your laptop
- Right Click on the Sound icon that will appear in the notifications tab.
- Click on Recording Devices when the menu pops open.
- Open Properties of the device you wish to use
- Select the Listen tab
- Check the box that reads Listen To This Device
- Click Apply
And there you have it. Now when you will attempt to speak into your microphone your laptop will directly pick it up and be able to project that sound outwards as a speaker would normally do.
We hope this article has been informative to you. The speakers installed within your laptop are quite versatile, and there are multiple avenues whereby you can use it as a proper speaker by making the connections we highlighted above.
If you found anything confusing or not properly explained let us know. Till next time! Ciao.