I just purchased a dell laptop w/windows7 and have what I think is a unique problem with download speed. Downloading to the computer itself is fine, but when I go to an external monitor and close the lid to the pc, the download speed drops to about 25% of the speed of the computer itself. Can you give me any insight as to why this is happening.

This link should help you with your problem: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Change-what-happens-when-you-close-your-laptop

Your computer works in a low-power status certainly the speed will be slow down.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.