It is going to kill me to say this, but your Internet connection seems faster because you are using IE instead of Netscape. As much as I hate to admit it, IE is leaner, is integrated into the OS, and is therefore faster.
But don't get me wrong -- I still use Netscape. (On my MAC!) If you like XP, you should see Mac OS X. What a beautiful thing.
Congratulations on your new machine. Have fun with it.
Ah HAH! I knew there had to be a reason and I knew some smart FReeper would tell me what it was. Thanks.