Shirtninja

I have been using mandrake for a few years now, but it just isnt doing it for me any more. I love the control center, but asides from that I dont really mess with anything. I do the most basic install possible and then install the latest version of what I want. Can anyone suggest another distrobution that is less bloated when it comes to other apps? Gentoo sounds interesting, but it looks like a bigger step then I may be ready for. I really do like the installation process and control center on mandrake and how easy it keeps things, any suggestions on something else that would provide that or should I just keep doing a basic install for the time being?