Connectivity issues with Dell Inspiron 660 4GB

I purchased this computer earlier today and was excited to get it home and get it up and running.  It seemed to run fairly well for the first hour or so but a little while after i began to download League of Legends and games through Steam, the wireless connection became nigh un-usable.  It cuts out constantly, and when it is online the speeds are ridiculously slow.

I am typing this from my 4 year old laptop, which is having no issue at all with my connection, roughly 6 inches from where my brand new Dell is, so location surely isn't the issue.  I tried closing Steam and just letting LoL finish downloading, but that had no effect.  I have turned my laptop off but it made no difference.  I have of course tried restarting the router - nothing.  I'm very disappointed, since online gaming is the number one reason I chose this PC.  

There was a similar thread elsewhere on the forum, but that customer bought a new adapter and never actually solved the problem.  This isn't really something I can currently do, and I would not be too happy about having to essentially pay extra for something that should be built in.