install gentoo /s

Jokes aside, don’t get caught up in picking the most popular or most hipster distro or DE (desktop environment). Pick one, stick with it, get used to how Linux works.

Linux Mint, Zorin OS, Debian, MX Linux (if you got a pretty old laptop) are decent start. All have graphical installers, so just follow along.

When you get to disk partitioning, most people start with

1GB for /boot

Up to 8GB for swap

The rest for /, EXT4 or BTRFS

Or

1GB for /boot, FAT32

Up to 8GB for swap, swap

64GB for /, EXT4 or BTRFS

The rest for /home, whichever you picked for /

You might see ZFS or people talking about it, don’t worry about using it. Keep things simple for the start.

After rebooting and everything seems to work, dive in, friend.