I use Ubuntu, here's a great article which compares Ubuntu and Mint:
Ubuntu/Mint

Another thing that I love about linux, is how easy it is to install a new language, change keyboard layout etc.

In Win7, its a problem - you have to upgrade to some ultimate edition to do this, and pay for it ofc, lol.

No thanks, I'll just use the free, vastly superb (in the most important matters) linux.

In the attachment, a message to Micro$oft.

If it suits you well, why bother searching for another?
If not - try them out yourself.

I believe you. So far I've been using Linux Mint and I've come to the conclusion that it's awesome. It has everything you need. Just install it and 1 minute later, you are watching Youtube videos or playing a game with wine. So far, there hasn't been any problems too. Easy to configure. There is also a lot of other people using it so you can turn to the Linux Mint community whenever you have questions.

This question cannot be answered.
You should ask: "Which distribution fits my needs?". And since that one is hard, how about "Which desktop manager do I prefer?", "What is more important for me, convenience or flexibility?" and "How much time am I willing to spend on this matter?".

The beauty of Linux is its diversity, you have the choice.
Linux Mint is a great distribution for beginners and those who want a convenient and instantly running system, without having to reach deep into the console, at the cost of performance and freedom.
Arch Linux with Xfce, my current system, is far more complex and requires a lot of attention, but I am in total control.

It is up to you.

Do you people have actual data to back up your claims instead of the usual "it just feels faster to me" argument?

Imho, the extra performance you'll get from a more efficient visual interface and less bloat doesn't matter that much unless you have an ageing machine that struggle with current software or a server.

In the later case, you'll want to do away with a visual interface altogether and do everything from the shell.

Ubuntu was a keeper for me early on because it has both a user-friendly desktop version and a more bare-bone server version.

SteamOS!

But seriously, I'm using it right now and it's not bad at all. Good Debian foundation, integrated Nvidia drivers and updates. I was hoping that the controller support would extend to the desktop, but it's only in Steam. Not ready for prime time, obviously, so maybe Debian or Mint is a better choice right now.

LOL, although, I think PC-BSD is really the one for newbs. That reminds me, I need to figure out how to get Crashplan to run so that I can ditch Linux in favor of going back to PC-BSD

I agree!
But it all depends. It's kinda personal.
To be fair, one of the most annoying thing for me was the fact that I couldn't play my games without my wireless x360 controller blinking all the time. This controller is great, just hook it up and bam, you're ready, but that greenish light blinking all the time was a hassle.
It happened on ubuntu/mint, and SteamOS fixed that. Just like that.

:)

It is not so much about the distribution itself, but rather the desktop manager and the applications.
Cinnamon is pretty but slower than Xfce or Mate, the same goes for KDE and so on. Of course this does not really matter on its on.
But user-friendly distros also have a lot of bloat installed by default, apps you will never use or even know about...

That's certainly true. However, I think for newbies that's probably a good thing. Once somebody is familiar with the way that Linux and *NIX in general works, then more minimal distros are probably worth considering.

That being said, I usually don't bother going minimalist any more. The amount of resources that the UI and those extra apps take up tends to be relatively minor compared with what my computer can handle.

Little bump here, but it was the most relevant topic I found. Would certainly agree with this. I tried (proper) Debian KDE a year ago or something, and I liked it, but am not comfortable with loads of commands and such, and there was always some kind of problem. Searching for solutions was a bit hopeless, as there are as many solutions as hits. So I inevitably was left tearing my hair out for any kind of small issue, that either didn't exist in Windows, or was easy to solve there.

Yesterday I tried to reinstall Windows 7, and for some reason it never got past the first restart after copying over some files, so after 5 failed attempts I managed to download and install Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon. A great advantage for newbies like myself is that there are so much stuff pre-installed. It makes the transition a whole lot easier when you already have programs for music, office, torrents, and so forth right from the get go, plus codecs, flash etc. Remains to be seen whether I still run into many brick walls, but so far it seems allright. No idea how to best download the linux versions of my games, mind.

I don't like Ubuntu due to Unity and "phone home" crap, which hopefully isn't present in the latest Mint. And so far it looks pretty good for a beginner.

Obviously which distro is "best" depends a great deal on your wishes and requirements, but in my mind, Linux Mint is a great start for beginners BECAUSE there is so much pre-installed.

As per the topic's title, I think it can spawn different answers since OP didn't specify in which terms another distro would be better than Mint.

For me Mint stands out from the other Ubuntu based distros, even more with version 17 sticking to the Ubuntu 14.04 base for future releases. As a distro it provides great ease of use and comfortability for users migrating from Windows and in that regard I don't think there's a better distro.

I'm not sure why many people choose Ubuntu vanilla. The invasive phone home, the desktop manager and application selection are just meh. I remember reading somewhere that the team chose F-Spot over GIMP because it was simpler to use.

Last year I tried Mint 16, I ran it in a VM to learn the basics for about 3 weeks, during that period I felt comfortable using it and Mint 17 was released, I set up a dual boot to keep my Windows partition and started learning the mechanics, but after less than a month I found myself booting in Windows less and less to the point I no longer needed it.

Now I'm a happy Linux user for almost 6 months and I can't imagine myself using Windows again, there's so much customization options that I'd feel in a cage on Windows. I have just finished building a new system and Mint 17.1 MATE runs very fast and smooth, probably even faster than Cinnamon and it isn't much different in terms of appearance.

Once I learn more about Linux I might consider switching to a less user friendly distro, Debian is a great candidate since I've already used Debian based distros before but OpenSUSE and Fedora are also interesting, especially since I like living on the latest version of software.

I always mess around with various Debian based distros, that was until two weeks ago or so, when I finally got into the Arch based Manjaro, after I installed cinnamon I realized: The system itself only matters when you need to mess "under the hood". Pick a good distro (see reviews, community, driver and application support and documentation) pick a desktop manager that works better for you and it's all fine.