I'm sick of having problems with the wacky modified drivers supplied by my computer manufacturer so I'm trying to escape from the Windows scene entirely and migrate to Linux.

I don't know much about computer programming. I have been reading various articles and how-to guides over the last few days and more or less have an idea of how to get started, but I would like to learn some more while I finish downloading ubuntu (yes I am that green haha!).

My hardware consists of a 17 inch HP Pavillion Laptop. Inside there is a:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM CPU @ 2.20GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.2GHz
8GB RAM
Radeon (TM) HD 7690M XT (hybrid graphics card)
(2x) USB 2.0 drives
(2x) USB 3.0 drives
Opticsl drive
500GB hard drive
Built in microphone/camera
Fingerprint Scanner
some kind of wireless card I really don't even remember which kind but it definitely summons the internet
HDMI Port

it still has more hardware rattling around somewhere inside, but if I can just get those things working I'll be happy. In addition to needing it for work and school, I bought the machine so that I could play games on Steam. I know a bit about how to get Wine working once I have everything up and running, but I'm pretty confused about how to configure hardware and drivers for all of those features (above) once I install Linux.

Can anyone give me some easy to follow tips or point me to the right foundation? I consulted some of the FAQs here but I'm still not sure what my first step should be.

Once your download is completed burn the ISO to a CD or DVD, or make a bootable flash drive using unetbootin (http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/)
Then boot your computer from your freshly downloaded OS. If everything boot then your hardware is compatible with the OS, Once you are in the live session check for wireless compatibility some wireless cards require some tweaking to work with Linux (actually broadcom cards are the nesty ones)
If your wireless work then you should be good to go, Ubuntu includes some files in the live image for you to test in your system, there will be a folder in the home directory with a OGG file for you to test the sound and there is one for video too.
I dont know how good of suppport Radeon has in Linux I think some people with this card says the support is not that good but I really dont know.

Steam is available in Linux so chances are the games you play are available in Ubuntu. Ubuntu 13.04 is coming out this Thursday if you want to download the latest version.

Good luck to you.

This 1 is still supported.
Radeon (TM) HD 7690M XT (hybrid graphics card)