I personally really like Linux Mint myself. It got my old acer laptop to run again (the windows install became as big as the hard drive and literally wouldn’t boot) and I’ve been using it more and more on my home desktop, with a windows partition just in case. Just know that, while everything you want to do is possible, there WILL be some weird stuff you have to find work arounds for.

Portal’s beauty is in it’s shortness. Perfectly paced, it takes the basic idea, plays with it, twists it, and finishes before it can overstay its welcome. In and out in an afternoon.