Slow/Sluggish internet on brand new Dell Inspiron 1520

Hi, I recently received my new Dell Inspiron 1520 that I built to specs on Dell's website. The laptop is great yet I can't help but notice a little slow or sluggish performance for this new machine when surfing the internet. At times it will just sit on a page and load forever where other times it will work just fine. If I try to download a cd it will give me an estimated time of up to 6 hours when our desktop downstairs, which is older and less powerfull, will do it in maybe 5-10 minutes. My other laptop works just fine and has no similar circumstances.

I pulled the 1 gb RAM the day it came and upgraded to 2.5 gb, and also opted to get the Intel 3945 wireless chip. I have installed Norton Antivirus. That is all that has been done since I received it Monday. It seems odd to me that with core 2 duo 5550, 2.5 gb of ram, and being brand new that it surfs the web at a par rate.

Does anyone know of any drivers/downloads I need to install? I believe there is a new BIOS but I have not installed that.

Thanks for your input.

 

It could be your internet browser. Try using a different browser than what you're using now or try reinstalling the browser you're using. Try downloading Safari (the Windows version), it's the fastest web browser by a noticeable amount (especially compared to Internet Explorer).
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/application_updates/safari31.html

 

Hmmm. Try different browsers/wireless drivers? Staying on top of Windows Updates?

 

I don't know about other peoples experiences with safari, but I find it is really slow on Vista, just like iTunes is. On XP it is fantastic.

 

Meh. Safari was pretty ho-hum on my computer...

 

There's your problem.

 

I'll second that, Norton AV/FW?internet security will kill any machine. You may also have a bad ram chip. I don't know how you went from 1 to 2.5 that and odd config.

 

Safari runs amazing quick on my desktop with Vista, so I don't know what the problem is on your computer (the processor is fast enough).

 

Drivers? Yes, I have looked at the updates a little. At this point there are a couple updates and a newer bios which all should help. I may just be being a little picky, it's not that bad really. As for the ram update, it came with 2X512mb and I got a better deal on eBay for upgrading and added one 2GB chip.

Thanks for the help.

 

You need to run matching chips in each slot for max speed. With miss match chips you have cut your ram speed down to 1/2.

 

Safari's kinda fast (XP + 2.66GHz P4 + 512MB) compared to Opera, Firefox, and IE, but it looks terrrible and has a too simple UI.

On topic: Replace Norton, now!