if u can wait then wait for June 1, Ubuntu dapper would be officially launched. The beautiful thing is that they have managed to shrink the 2 Install & Live CD's into 1 Install &/or Live CD so you can see & feel the distro without using much of time. You can either download the binary which is in the final stages of testing from
ubuntu or wait for the D-day to download it. Another way of having it would be going through
shipit & asking them to ship u the CD's. The CD's are free as they're sponsored by Canonical Ltd & u don't have to pay anything. There's another one called Kubuntu which again can be had from
shipit or
Edubuntu . The difference between the 3 are Ubuntu is for Gnome lovers (like me) while Kubuntu is for KDE guys (argumentatively similar in look & feel to windows) & edubuntu for children & school-college going kids for education & fun. The only thing with shipit is it takes about 6-8 weeks for the CD's to arrive while downloading or torrenting would be matter of hrs. or days depending on u'r broadband connectivity.
There are no. of reasons one should use ubuntu or Mepis or any debian derived derivative over rpm based distros is because it's more stable. rpm-based distros like Fedora or Mandrake are notorious while upgrading/updating & resolving conflicts while apt-get (comes with debian) does the job wonderfully. If u're a constant upgrader/tweaker like me you'll love any of the debian derivatives.
Another major reason is that the ubuntu has a repositery in India hence downloading updates is much more easier which in turn means one can download the whole DVD repositery if so required & burn it.
Another reason being the
forums which are also very well organised & helpful.
The last & not the least the look & feel of the product is much more polished than the alternatives described above. Another great way of looking into different products would be going through distrowatch.com & comparing the screenshots of the different distros. so that u have an idea what to expect.
Disclaimer :- These are based on my experiences & may differ from person to person