Toshiba M35-S320 Laptop Review - Software
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The Toshiba M35 comes with a lot of software preloaded. Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition is the M35-S320's operating system. Applications include Adobe Acrobat Reader, AOL, AT&T WorldNet Service, Drag'n Drop CD+DVD, InterVideo WinDVD Creator Plus, Microsoft Works, Norton AntiVirus 2003, Toshiba ConfigFree, Toshiba Custom Utilities, and Toshiba Notebook Maximizer.
ConfigFree and Custom Utilities are a set of programs for users to setup and configure all sorts of options on the M35. While most of these options can be accessed using Windows XP control panel, Toshiba's software continently places user-friendly apps in one spot to access these options.
ConfigFree is specifically a suite of utilities designed to allow easy control of communication devices and network connections. It also allows you to find communication problems and create profiles for easy switching between locations and communication networks. ConfigFree is meant to be "Hassle-Free." While I have no interest in support-type software, new computer users will probably be thankful for this.
The Toshiba Notebook Maximizer is a cool little program similar to System Information. It shows all of the M35's specs and real time stats, and also has links to Toshiba updates and laptop accessories. The main screen shows processor, system memory, storage, and battery information.
The M35 is preinstalled with NVIDIA 45.62 drivers. From this screenshot you can also see that DX9 is installed. DX9.0b is installed to be exact. This screenshot also shows the Go5200 GPU running at AGP 4x with 32MB memory. An useful function with NVIDIA GO GPUs is PowerMizer
Just like mobile CPUs can throttle speeds, the Go5200 can be run in three modes: maximum power savings, balanced, and maximum performance. By default, the M35's Go5200 is set to run at maximum performance when on both AC and battery power.
Overall, the M35's software is simply the basic necessities needed to run a computer. The included operating system, applications, and drivers that are pre-installed also come on recovery CDs. The M35 can be used right out of the box to play movies, games, web surf, word process, etc. But as with any OEM computer, that's about it.
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