If you decide to try Fedora (much to SMeth's disgust hehe)....
I was browsing and just found this article called "Fedora: Road To The Desktop" on Flexbeta. Looking at it, it looks like a very helpful (and useful) article for linux newbies that takes you through stuff step by step. Give it a read:
http://www.flexbeta.net/main/article...ion=show&id=42