Have not heard the Audioengine yet, have read reviews where they have got lots of stars

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My advice would be if you are going to buy expensive computer speakers like this you should definitely invest in an external sound card(USB) like the Creative audigy(external one is called extigy) or the ol live card. it would be worth it coz the sound quality difference from a normal laptop card and this is huge.
Have connected my speakers to the laptop as well as my ol pc with live sound card the difference is very evident.