Left with no choice
With OSes such as MS Windows, and Mac OS, choice is not really and issue. Rather, it's not even an option. Part of the beauty that makes using a GNU/Linux a truly unique experience, is choice.With Mac, the only sensible choice in terms of hardware, is to just buy a new Mac (PC, Macbook) with Mac OS preinstalled. Apple actually makes attractive PCs and laptops, they look nice and just work. When a new version of the OS comes out, just upgrade. If you really like working with Macs, using the desktop, then this make sense. However, these don't come cheap.
With Microsoft Windows, you do have a wide variety of hardware to choose from. There is a always a PC or laptop somewhere that you can find to fit your needs and your budget. If you need to do some gaming, buy a PC/Laptop with good graphics. If you need to do some basic work and is tight on the budget, pretty much any PC with basic CPU and graphics will do the job. Get a low cost laptop or a netbook. If you are doing some serious work, then get some serious workstation hardware. Most will happily run MS Windows.
On the software side however, there is not much choice available. Windows XP is awesome, and if you still have a license for it, go ahead and install it. But remember, that support for WinXP is already about to end April 2014, so it makes no sense to install it now. Vista, is a bad release, and I don't think you can get them any more. That leaves us with Windows 7, and Windows 8. Windows 8 features a tablet like interface. It looks pretty, but very difficult and confusing to use. In a productivity environment where you need to get real work done right, Win8 interface just makes no sense. I still think that Win7 is the current best Windows release for doing anything from office work, graphics, and gaming. Problem is, if you don't already have a license for it, you can't get them any more. The only way to get them, is to go find some branded "business-class" PC/Laptops, with Win7 preloaded. Available models are few and dwindling in numbers, and some are a bit dated. Most likely, if you must use Windows, you have no choice but to use Win8.
If you don't like MacOS from Apple, you can go ahead and try your luck at Win7. If that's not available for you, then you are kind of stuck with Win8. Too bad...
The Choice
Where the other OSes fail, is where Gnu/Linux system truly shines. CHOICE. But sometimes, THERE'S TOO MANY CHOICES.One of the first challenges that new users to GNU/Linux has to face is choosing a first distro. Then, the following question comes up :
"What is the best (most awesome) distro there is in Linux?"Don't anybody dare ask that kind of question in the midst of Linux enthusiasts, unless you want to start a civil war among us. The thing is, there is no such thing as the best distro, so there is no point in asking. All it does is spark some "my distro is better than yours" attitude. Each distro is unique, and has its own pros and cons, compared to others. Each are made to cater to certain needs, and each has its own implementation of a Gnu/Linux system.
The choice of a distro is a personal one. There is no point trying to choose 'the best' distro of them all, because it's meaningless. What makes a distro good, or bad, is very subjective, and depends entirely on the user, and what he intends to do with it.
When choosing a first distro, there are several aspects that one must consider. Some of them discussed below.
1. Desktop Environment
For a beginner in Linux, and a NOOB at computing, most interactions with the system will be done through interactive GUIs, and not text consoles. The user expects to turn on the PC, be able to login to the DE, and then launch some apps, do some work through simple mouse clicks, gestures and key presses. The DE should be easy to understand, interact with, and pleasing to use overall.
Therefore, watch some youtube videos and see lots of reviews about different DEs, available on Linux. Try to get a feel of how each DE work, and then select which ones to try first.
I recommend looking at latest reviews for Ubuntu (with Unity), Ubuntu Gnome (Gnome shell), Linux Mint (with Mate and Cinnamon), and Kororaa (with Gnome shell and KDE).
2. NOOB friendly
If you are a noob, like me, and are just beginning with Linux, stick to NOOB friendly distros only. A distro can be considered NOOB-friendly based on how easy it is to install, configure, update, and install new software. The distro should also have good documentation, and have a strong support system that makes it easy to get help.
3. Software bundles, availability and versions
Each distro has its own policy and methods for including softwares in the distro release, and in their software repositories. You should check each potential distro, whether the software that you want is pre-bundled with the disto installer, or easy to get on the system. You should not have to compile a software from source code, and deal with a lot of configs.
4. Hardware support
At the moment of writing, hardware support is not a major issue as far as Linux is concerned. There are some minor issues, that have to do with the following.
-Hybrid graphics
Modern laptops with hybrid graphics systems have 2 GPU; 1 discrete powerful gpu and an internal low power GPU. The laptop would mostly use the low power chip, and only invoke the discrete GPU when running games. In Linux, support for hybrid graphics is still weak.
If you are using laptop with Optimus (Intel GPU + Nvidia), make sure that bumblebee and bbswitch is well supported an easy to setup with your choice of distro.
I am not sure about ATI hybrid graphics, but I think you need some proprietary drivers to get it working. Make sure your distro lets you install them easily.
If all you have is a PC/Laptop with just one graphics chip, you are off the hook.
-Proprietary drivers
Some laptops ship with devices that do not have open source drivers available for them, and they need driver packages that are proprietary. This includes some bluetooth, and wifi adapters. There is no way to easily spot these. Problem is, some distros have a policy of not including these drivers with their distros. Try the particular distro you want using the livecd, without installing. If some devices don't work, try checking whether you can easily install the required packages.
My Recommendations
Based on the type of DEs that you may like, I recommend the following:Unity
Not much choice. Just stick with Ubuntu and you should be fine. Lots of Software, and those not officially supported are sometimes available as PPAs.
Gnome shell
Gnome shell is currently my favourite DEs. Good distros that provide this is Ubuntu Gnome, and Kororaa. I recommend Kororaa over Fedora because it is pretty much the same, just much easier to install and use, preloaded with useful software and codecs.
Cinnamon or MATE
Just stick with Linux Mint.
KDE
I can recommend Kubuntu and Kororaa.
There are of course other interesting distros and DEs out there, tailored specifically towards new GNU/Linux adopters. There are simply too many of them to discuss here, and if I were to talk about them all, this article would not end.
You should not limit yourself to just the distros above. Best you find all the distros you are interested in, try them all out. Keep distro-hopping until you find what you like.
