BleepingComputer.com: External sound cards for laptops

I would like to find a solution to upgrade from my current crappy Conexant Pebble HD audio, which regularly pops and stutters when listening to music, gaming, etc.

I've been looking at things such as the Creative Labs SB0950 ExpressCard Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook USB Audio System, the Creative Labs SB1090 USB Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Audio System and the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook Sound card - 48 kHz - 24-bit.

My question is, do these external sound cards have their own chips so as not to degrade the performance of the CPU the way onboard sound cards do when generating sound?

Computer specs are in sig.

Thank you!

This post has been edited by OmegaWolf747: 20 July 2010 - 01:01 PM

Mostly all sound cards require the processor of the computer to process the bytes of info thru the actual card.

I have yet to see a card with its own processor. For the most part Sound Cards contain only boosted Mother boards with better circuitry to produce
better sound.