Why is my laptop download speed so slow?

[Tyrion]

I have a programming laptop (a mac) and a gaming laptop (windows), and I've noticed that downloading speeds are about 2 or 3 times faster on the mac than the gaming laptop, sometimes the gaming laptop is so slow that downloading a game on steam can take many hours instead of just half an hour or less.

I've tried to clear the temporary files but that didn't change anything. Are there any settings on the windows laptop I could change to get the download speed to where it should be?

[_I_]

slow cpu and hdd

if it does not have a sata ssd downloads will be very slow

steam downloads compressed files, which need to be unpacked, and copied on the drive

[Set-115689]

What are the download speeds?

Run an ookla download speed test?

Not uncommon by the way.

Wifi 2.4 ghz vs 5 ghz, wired internet connection, using powerline adapters, etc...

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Are you actually comparing Steam on both machines?

Steam does not handle a download in a simple way like downloading an ISO via Web browser. Steam of course does downloads the dumbest and slowest way possible.

If you going to download anything that's going to take more then an 1 hour or so, use a wired connection.

[Tyrion]

I downloaded a game that took less than 20 minutes to download for 20GB on my mac, the same game on the windows laptop took 30-40 minutes.

[_I_]

you cant compare pc vs mac, they use different builds, files are compressed differently and the os handles the drives differently

[Supafly]

A weaker network card could also result in a weaker signal. A weaker signal could be preventing it reaching those higher speeds purely because the connection isn't strong enough. Move the laptop next to your modem/router and try downloading something. If it's still slow it's unlikely the network capabilities and something else. Like that suggested above.