For me the different distros are more down to what look you prefer, of course some will be better supported then others so "drivers" will be easier to find/included.

For me it's Ubuntu 10.10 32Bit until they get 11.04 fixed or 11.10 comes out, right now i have dualboot 10.10 & 11.04 and 11.04 runs like sh*t, so if you want to be "safe" with big community and a VERY good OS i vote ubuntu 10.10

Other then that i have tried almost all distros when i started getting in to Linux and ubuntu was the one i kept coming back to, and a side note, i always config the desktop & panels as it was win98, this also helps when i give it to others, then the transition from win to linux is almost not there. Got my dad and mom on it to, and my mom just had to know a few basic things and now see has more usage out of her laptop.