lenovo t420 line in

[corbintechboy]

I see what your saying and thanks for posting the right diagram.

It still works in the same way though. There has to be a short circuit created in order for regular headphones to work. I never wired one and have no real interest in doing so as my current laptop has dual jacks.

I think we are on the same page just looking at it from different perspectives.

 

[br0adband]

The age of dual jack laptops is fast coming to a close it seems. Now with Apple pushing a patent to reduce the size to 2.5mm (and make it structurally weaker by comparison to a 3.5mm plug) who knows what'll come next.

Personally I wish most every device had Bluetooth support just for audio nowadays, it really is very handy to have and the not needing cables plugged in all over the place is pretty cool too. I used to always plug either my laptop or my smartphone into the older speakers I had but that was a chore to some degrees whenever I had to do the attach/detach/attach/detach thing, now with a somewhat decent sounding set of Creative speakers (model T12) that utilize Bluetooth for audio all that cabling is passe and I can pair them with multiple devices too.

Some things get better and other things get rendered obsolete, I suppose.

 

[corbintechboy]

I like wired. There is just nothing that can beat a wire for dependability. I mean, in a world of WiFi, gamers are still using ethernet cables because of how reliable they are.

As far as jacks go, I believe the major players will probably step away, the companies who are smaller like Compal, Sager, Clevo and so forth will continue to offer them. I am typing this on a Haswell made by Clevo (System76). Going all wireless might not be the best option for everyone.

I use these:

Amazon.com: Audioengine A5+B Powered Book Shelf Speakers: Computers & Accessories

I would hate to not be able to use those. As long as they always leave some sort of option open, I will be happy.

 

[CapStar362]

HEY! im learning something for once

i never fully understood the 4 ring connector, Thank you

 

[cmdrwill]

Reminds me of the aircraft 4 conductor plug.

 

[moonbounce]

Well I got my splitter cable today, plugged it in to my Lenovo t420 laptop and nothing happened. I can see that there is a signal going through as DSD's source audio shows when there is a signal in either digital or analog.

Also when I plugged the splitter cable in, there was no popup asking me anything, like do you want to use line in or microphone? So what would I be missing. I disabled the VB Audio so that shouldn't be an issue.

 

[br0adband]

I'm pretty sure that means it's just a mic input and won't be of any practical use, even if you adjust the source volume so low (like 1 on a scale of 1 to 10) as to hopefully prevent the typical distortion you find with a line-level signal fed into a mic input you're not going to get a clear signal (that's just my guess of course, it could just actually work).

If you're getting an actual signal and you have proof of it, then now it's a question of directing it where it needs to go and that usually starts with defining the default recording source (doesn't mean you're actually recording, it's just how the Windows audio mixer considers things: it's either playback for output or recording for input).

Guess now it's just a matter of finding the right signal level(s) or perhaps getting that cable I mentioned earlier, but it definitely appears that there's no potential for a line-level input on the laptop's native hardware.

 

[moonbounce]

So I did get it working, I just had a severe blond moment. I thought that when I plugged the line in to the microphone jack of the splitter I would be able to hear the signal out of the computer speakers but it didn't happen that way. I assumed that I was out of luck in that the splitter wasn't going to work and that I had just bought a newer computer for nothing. But as I sat there fuming, Broadbands message kept playing back in my head " well you at least have a signal" so I sat there a little dumbfounded thinking about that message. Finally I thought well I do have a signal so I thought why don't I plug speakers in the other jack and see what happens and lo and behold sound. Thanks again for taking the time to respond BB if it wasn't for you I probably would not be using the 420t for what it was purchased for .

Moonbounce

 

[br0adband]

No worries and congrats on the purchase and getting things worked out. It's a great machine, one of the last really decent ThinkPads (everything after the -20 series (meaning the t220/t420/t520/x220) has been yucky in my opinion. I had the first ThinkPad when it originally came out, I had the 701c "Butterfly" model, and many many others since then including a bunch of T series models and an X here and there. But since Lenovo took over manufacturing them from IBM directly, there's been a steady decline of quality in my opinion. It's sad to see what's becoming of the ThinkPad legacy and reputation but there's not much that can be done about it anymore.

I mean, they don't even come in proper jet black anymore, just some terrible fake dark grey color, geez.

Anyway, you got one of the last great ones so take care of it and it'll last a long time.