I'm sorry to say this but putting ubuntu on a NEW laptop wasn't such a
good idea. I dual-boot but do so with two disk drives one for each OS
- easier i think. Many people seem to have problems at first as XP
doesn't like being 2nd place to ubuntu.

Find a spare PC [old P3 say that someone is giving away] to test and
experiment on before messing up your XP installation. Linux is not
windows. Lots of things to learn - i spent 6 months [well off and on]
trying things out before i started to use ubuntu as my main OS.

ubuntu.com is an indispensible source of info
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto