Laptop Problems

I purchased a brand new relatively well quipped laptop 3 days ago. From day one, right out of the box (with no downloads or tweaks) I experienced IE 7.0 crashing every 5-10 minutes; sometimes where it would recover from and sometimes where it would completely shut down. After I lost my patience I posted a question on answers and people seemed to agree I should try Firefox, so I downloaded and began using 3.0.5 only to experience crashing in Firefox as well that was equally as disruptive as IE. I am really at my wits end because I mostly use the computer for internet browsing. I am also very unhappy with the restart time which is two minutes and sixteen seconds (I actually timed it) which seems crazy for a Core 2 Duo processor with 4 gig of ram. Is this a vista thing? I believe I have ruled out IE 7.0 by replicating the same problem with Firefox. In case it matters I am using Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1
here are the specs on my computer
processor brand Intel
processor model Core 2 Duo
processor speed 2.0 GHz
hard drive capacity 320 GB
memory 4 GB
memory type DDR2 SD RAM
maximum memory capacity 8 GB
Wi-Fi capability included (Wi-Fi ready) yes
included integrated drives DVD±RW/DVD-RAM/DVD+R Double Layer
diagonal screen size 16 inches
notebook computer weight 6.93 lb
operating system Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1
screen resolution 1366 x 768
number of USB 2.0 ports 4
number of USB 1.1 ports 0
modem standard 56K V.90
audio hardware SRS Premium Sound
front side bus speed 800 MHz
integrated speaker yes
integrated memory card reader yes
number of VGA video ports 1
video hardware Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500HD
video memory 1759MB shared
thickness 1.65 inches
width 14.9 inches
depth 10.15 inches
Ethernet port yes
number of parallel ports 0
number of PS/2 ports 0
number of S-video outputs 0
number of serial ports 0
infrared port yes
computer battery type lithium-ion
number of FireWire ports 0
Energy Star qualified yes
warranty length 1-year limited
processor Intel Core 2 Duo T6400
model name Pavilion dv6-1030us
brand name HP
manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
network connectivity 10/100 Ethernet
number of HD MI ports 1
number of eSATA/USB 2.0 ports 1
wireless connectivity 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N; Bluetooth