Linux Mint in the Cinnamon flavor is one of the most beginner-friendly and also has a desktop very similar to Windows.

Go with Pop!_OS

Very user-friendly and has a straightforward installation process, also comes with strong NVIDIA graphics driver support out-of-the-box if you are using nvidia gpu. Another advantage is the Pop!_Shop, which is akin to an app store and makes software installation easy for newcomers. The GNOME-based user interface is also intuitive and somewhat similar to Windows, easing the transition.

Been a minute since I used unix/Linux, but “Mint” always had a windows-like experience if you just need a starter distro. Also free.

Everyone will give you a different answer and honestly it’s all Linux, just find one that clicks with you and your workflow.

A couple recommendations are

• fedora (workstation or KDE spin)
• Open suse
• Pop_OS
• Vanilla OS (once 2.0 comes out of beta)

I’ve used all of these and they’re all decent. I ended up sticking with fedora just because I had to tweak it the least to get my workflow how I want it.

Garuda Linux. It’s based on Arch but has some extra features to make gaming and graphics setup easier. It also uses an installer so it’s pretty easy to setup.

I’ve been using Nobara after messing with Manjaro, and it’s been my go-to distro across multiple computers now.

Handles games incredibly well, built in fixes for Resolve, rock solid otherwise. It’s based on Fedora so very well supported on that front as well.