...don't get tied down with others suggestions mate... some would 'say' ubuntu is friendly this, friendly that but I start off my students/friends/clients with fedora and they have no problems with it... I am not saying one is better than the other (*coughFedorarockscough* !!!), just saying you should do some more research yourself first... as long as you use the latest kernel, you should have no problems with hardware either... but saying that, it would be a good idea if you are a beginner to stay away from the more uh... exotic flavours, since support/forums won't be as extensive as with a more established flavour e.g. Fedora, Suse and uh... Ubuntu

...have fun with the penguin mate!