I should note that Desktop BSD has a live DVD, which also installs to the hard drive, but PC-BSD is praised right here in the BSD forum. Which one is better?

I have a family member who thinks that M$ is horrible, but is skeptical about Linux because it is too new & not "real UNIX". He has programmed and has nothing but respect for a "real" UNIX variant. Since I've heard that BSD is a little more robust then Linux, I think that would be the way to go. I would like to do a complete full install so that there is a minimum of stuff to add later.

Which one will give me the most functionality with the least amount of grief? This will be installing on an AMD desktop with intergrated sound, integrated graphics and a Linksys Wireless PCI card with MIMO. He already understands that a wireless ethernet bridge may be needed, & I can run a wire to him from mine. I have a Buffalo Airstation, and one extra port that isn't doing anything.

Unrelated question: Which behaves best on a laptop, specifically a Lenovo 3000 N100?

I tried PC-BSD 1.4.* on Dell D600, everything worked out of the box, did not tried DesktopBSD so I can tell you anything about it, general diffrences are:

Best try both and select the better one.