I'm (slowly) switching from Mac to Linux, and in the process I tried a lot of options. I settled on Ubuntu as my preferred distro for several reasons (although

I'm (slowly) switching from Mac to Linux, and in the process I tried a lot of options. I settled on Ubuntu as my preferred distro for several reasons (although I liked a lot about Fedora too), but I think the choice of desktop is most personal preference. Unity, GNOME, MATE and Xfce all have offical Ubuntu flavo(u)rs and work well, while Elementary uses an Ubuntu base which is nearly the same thing. (Lately I'm mostly using Xfce/Xubuntu.) The great thing is that they all use the same core system, so try them, or even install them at the same time (except Elementary), and use them until you find your favorite.