New to Linux.. Which distro would be best on my laptop?

Linux Mint is an excellent distro. It is also a lightweight distro, a single cd.

 

Yup.. mint is superb.. I seem to remember listing it as a possible solution back when this topic was the shizz.

Also don't forget dreamlinux.. modern and with a very mac kind of look.

Tiny-ME and pclinux seem to have shaken themselves (perhaps the bollocking I gave them on their forums about the mess was noticed?) good work.. whatever.. when it comes to *nix make it how you want it.. don't think any of us run more than a core with our other stuff added. That's the beauty of it.. do as you will shall be the whole of the law