If you want things to be easy, then go with Ubuntu. It's based on Debian but has some things which make it easier to get started. As you suggested purity isn't

If you want things to be easy, then go with Ubuntu. It's based on Debian but has some things which make it easier to get started. As you suggested purity isn't your top priority, if you decide to go with Debian then you probably want the 'non-free' images, that include blobs for making wifi and such work: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/ https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-in... I would not recommend arch for a beginner. There's a chance that you need to reinstall drivers after a kernel upgrade, which can be inconvenient if the drivers that no longer work are needed for your wifi connection.