[epsylon]

> If you pick Ubuntu, any issues usually aren't too hard to fix.

I've tried various distros on my laptop (Thinkpad W500) but I was seriously impressed when Ubuntu had everything working (including WiFi and ACPI key bindings) out of the box.

[jzelinskie]

Thinkpads have been officially Ubuntu certified for years now. They are probably the best laptop you can buy for GNU/Linux that doesn't have it already pre-installed.

[ciclista]

Check out Linux Mint as well, I've been using it as my main distro for some months now. It's based on Ubuntu, but very clean and easy.