I asked this last year and tried running linux (dual boot) for awhile (Mepis) but found it very inconsistante with my wifi and sd card reader. I'm running a Dell inspiron 640m laptop as my main pc. I've desided to try it one more time, really want an installed system as the bootable cds are just too slow for my liking.
So anyone have any suggestions on which distro to try out as of right now? I really have no idea on how to use linux as the only time i've used it at all is on the N800. So it would have to be really user friendly and working well with my Dell would be nice. I see on DistroWatch that Ubuntu and Mint are the top downloads right now. Thanks for any info or suggestions.

Clinton

Ubuntu is your best bet.

why change your desktop yet, you are obviously happy with it.
if you were going to jump in you have had enough teasers.

I found dual booting did not let me see or feel anything and the dual partition just died eventually, but when I got a new laptop the first thing I did was installed ubuntu.

I still don't like it as much as Windows, but know when I need something linuxy I can use it

Kubuntu, Ubuntu, Opensuse. Just grab the Live CDs/DVDs and see which one suits your needs best.

Each of theses distros provides very good hardware support. Kubuntu/Ubuntu 9.04 maybe a bit better than Opensuse 11.1 due to the more recent kernel. Should run on just about any machine. Even if it's from Dell.

Both, (K)Ubuntu and Opensuse have a very big and active community. So if you face any issues with these distros, it's usually quite easy to find help and a solution.

If you are coming from XP/Vista, you'll probably feel more at home with KDE desktop environment (Kubuntu, Opensuse), than with Gnome (Ubuntu). Though i'ts certainly worth giving Gnome also a try.

Go for ubuntu, but wait (or get the beta) for jaunty to be released. Some time this month.

I have found Kubuntu to be too much buggy. Ubuntu is also quite buggy, but is more polished.
Opensuse used to get out in quite a good shape, with some bugs which usually got fixed in the first two months, although the 11.1 was rushed to met schedules ala ubuntu and had too many bugs (mostly fixed by now, at least with kde3.5 and gnome desktops)
KDE4 isn't in any finished or usable form, yet. Don't know if it will ever be, for my tastes. So I do not recommend you to install kde4 or choose a kde4 based desktop distro, but kde3.5 is very mature.
There are many distros out there, not just Ubuntu or Opensuse, but from my own bias (I use suse since 12 years ago), I would recommend you to try Opensuse 11.0 with both gnome and kde 3.5 desktops, to see what's suits you more. You should also try Ubuntu, just to get another taste. By the way, you'll get better results installing to hard disk than just trying the livecd.

Kde 4 is completely usable for many people. I am running it with Sidux, a spinoff of Debian, and it is (a) beautiful and (b) runs just fine.

Ubuntu is just fine also.

There are lots of great Linux versions and I have used most of them. The nice thing about Ubuntu is that it is the most popular version of Linux, so if you have any problems with it, extensive help is available.
Mepis is great, Suse is great, they are all great for many, many people. I have Mint installed on the eee pc I'm typing on now, it's great too.

I don't see any big reason why a tablet user would want to run Linux, though. It should work fine with Windows. I'm running Windows 7 on my computers and it works -- let's see if I can find an appropriate adverb -- ah yes -- great.

Thanks guys for all the opinions, after looking I think I'll give Kubuntu a try and see if it's any better than the last time I tried a Linux install. I don't need to go with Linux, I have 3 pc's running Windows XP and Vista and really have no issues. I just wanted to try it out and see If I can make it work for me and it's free.
Also wanted to try a few of the alternative OS's for that tablet and the installs seem to need Linux at some point or another. Just something to try out I guess. Thanks again, I'm sure I'll have more questions once I have it installed.

Clinton

I'd recommend Kubuntu too, but please get the latest beta. KDE 4.0 is a piece of ****, but 4.2 is very nice and usable

Shouldn't be a problem, as Kubuntu 9.04 which will be released in 3 or 4 days comes with KDE 4.2.1 or 4.2.2 final. No need for a beta.
(And yeah I agree, 4.2 is the first version in the 4.x series which provides a really smooth user experience. Up to 4.1 it still was a rather bumpy ride.)

Though as far as (K)ubuntu 9.04 is concerned, I'd suggest not to install it on the day of release, but wait a bit. After release of a new version it usually takes around 4 weeks until the Ubuntu guys have fixed all bug found by the early adopters.