Mandrake IMHO (and i've been using linux for over 5 yrs) is the best for newbs. It has the easiest installer, configuration is easy, and it's hardware detection and support is excellent. Slackware on the other hand, i've never liked it. Just something about it that i don't like.
Redhat, another that i don't like as they don't have some configuration tools that i like to have and they don't ship/dl with DVD player support. Yeah i can easily install it myself but why when i can download another distro that does have that support as well as much more.
another distro that i do like a lot and that comes on a single disc is Libranet which is based on the Debian distro. It is quickly becoming my distro of choice and is a snap to install.
Anyway, looks as though you've already made your mind up but i thought i'd post this anyway in case anyone else was thinking about this.
ps
here's a good link to get distro's off the net for free,
http://www linuxiso.org and a good site for reviews of distro's.....
http://www.distrowatch.com