I used Redhat 8/9/10 for 3 and a half years, then Fedora 2 for a few months before buying my Powerbook. I really really liked Fedora... They have done a lot of stuff to make it more friendly to Windows migrants, plus the drivers are getting better and better... I'm impressed that the distro you picked up set your wireless up and found your laptop drivers... I never had good luck with laptops and linux, so that's awesome.
Anyway... if you go with an RPM based deal, get apt-get and synaptic... it's the best way for linux newbies to keep control of their packages without getting into dependency hell.
Good luck! If you just cut all ties from windows your life will be much much better
