Well...
Not absolutely sure - but depending on your laptop's onboard sound card's output capabilities (I'm guessing it's R/L output?) you may be able to get Dolby Pro Logic which would be 5.1.
True, if it's passed from the laptop to the unit in two channel analog, it can always go through the Dolby Pro Logic circuitry.
But, DPL does not output "true" 5.1 sound, as does a digital connection. It passes those two channels thgrough a series of equations that will emulate different channels, but these channels never existed to begin with.
That would be like saying that surimi is real crabmeat. It might sound "OK" and fool some people, but it ain't the real thing and nobody is fooled for long.
As for what he's got on his laptop, the only way to possibly get a true 5.1 signal is via a digital link and, even then, AFAICT, that's really only for DD/DTS, which most units can decode. If his computer can output a digital audio signal and his system can accept a digital input, then he should be fine. I don't know about this "losses" stuff to which he referrs.
Then again, if he's only using a Bose (or any) speaker system, he's screwed. He needs a receiver, if only for the amplification.
