Sounds like a driver issue more than anything. I mean I'm not a programmer, but in my real-world experience, low bit rates over a normally fast interface does not equate to increased system load.
Yup, precisely what I mean: probably we are talking about bugs and/or defects with the OS.
I didn't have the time to check for a WiFi driver alternative, I received the laptop already installed and I simply used it as-is.
Now I am reverse engineering a USB device that only runs on Windows XP, and I see there are stupid running programs with fancy names that monitors the WiFi and increase the system load for silly reasons.
Again, I don't have the time to investigate so ... as a workaround I'm using a wired connection and the problem has magically vanished.
This, or ... it's just that the Wifi hates me, dunno
