Linux mint 100%. It's ubuntu but easier. Very nice vanilla interface. When you get the hang of 'I can literally change anything and everything I want' then go to Arch. I've been on Arch forever. It's intimidating until you're using it, and then it's so basic.

Don't fear the command line. I use it daily, for basic things. Learn how to make aliases for your bashrc. I can type 'gpusage' into my CLI and I'll see all the stats for my graphics card in real time.

I bet you would be able to understand half of what's going here already without me explaining anything:

alias gpusage='watch nvidia-smi'

i think people overthink this decision because of the sheer amount of competition (and perhaps snobbery) online. have a look at some, see what might work best for you, but once you learn how they work i think it’s all much for muchness. good place to start might be looking at fedora or linux mint.