What version of Windows OS does this machine currently run? If you've got plenty
of drive space, I see no reason to not set it up as a dual boot machine. If it
were me, I'd leave Windows on the machine. It's not that I like Windows that
much. It's just that it's a Windows world and there are things that I have to do
in Windows, regardless of how much I like Ubuntu Linux.

It has Windows 7 on it. I was planning to dual boot as I have one
program that I use that needs Windows. I am nervous about the wi-fi that
is built in.

Ubuntu 12.04 is very good for picking up Wi-Fi though if it's a
Broadcom chipset it will need to do the initial install using a wired
connection then getting updates to enable the Wi-Fi. Other than that
I'd not envisage any problems with a current Win7 laptop.