DistroWatch provides a helpful list for beginner friendly Linux Distributions for linux choices that "just work". But I think other things that went into making up the list include:

http://distrowatch.com/search.php?os...gory=Beginners

A) Choosing Interfaces that look like Windows (or in Elementary's case: Apple)
B) Choosing operating systems where users rarely need to use the command line

Is there any major distros that would have been on list if neither A or B were search criteria.

Choosing the "best" for anything is always going to create disagreement.

I'd say one of the most important things for a beginner is good documentation. That's why I recommend Mint (nice manual) over Ubuntu (how do you look it up in the wiki if you don't know what you're looking for?). I liked Black Lab, but I don't remember any documentation. Then there's the question of reliability: I think that should rule out Sabayon.

I know some will say it's not "major", but Salix comes with a manual, is easy to install and maintain, and has the reliability of Slackware.

If you drop A from the list, then I think Gnome desktop environment becomes a very appealing choice. For a first-time computer user, with no preconceptions or habits, I would speculate that Gnome is easier to learn than Windows or Mac interfaces.

I personally would add Fedora with Gnome to the list. The Easylife tool makes it almost as easy as Ubuntu, IMHO.

I tried it out back when I knew nada about Linux and computers in general.
Later on. After I learned a few things.

I came to realize Sabayon throws the kitchen sink <slang for everything they can think of, then some more> in their distro.

So if one movie player gives you no joy. There is another on the menu.

That is about as far as Gentoo can be dumbed to for newbies I guess. Besides ChromeOS on my Chromebook <based on Gentoo also>.

Some distros are easier to learn than others, with Mint as a top contender for the easiest and Slackware
as arguably, the most difficult. However as someone who did a lot of distro 'hopping' looking for the
'best' distro, I found that all linux distros are all very similar, so 'best' becomes a matter of
personal preference.
I now stick with the tried and true, Debian, which has spawned more than 250 derivatives, and
Slackware, which has spawned 63 derivatives. According to this article.

http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7721/

Even the choice of DE has a large bearing on what may be your choice as the 'best'.
Try all the ones that interest you, make your own choice based on your personal preference
and criteria.

From what I've seen about Arch on youtube it looks very good and once you've set it up, you know you'll have exactly the computer that you want. However a Distro that can't or won't figure out automatically what drivers and components that are installed on a computer would not be beginner friendly (In this case I'm not talking about 3rd party codecs for videos or MP3's).

P.S. I'm not saying how hard it would be to set up Arch, but in the videos I saw, the authors had to manually find and install some drivers themselves, just to get the thing to work.

MY opinions:
YEA for your VBox 'path'! I found a 'friend' in NuTyX (for the STRANGE things *I* do)!
MY ...: download&try LOTS of distro's, until one/some 'stick' ('friend affinity just happens')

I'd like to hear a tiny bit about your PC (disk/ram; internet speed; Win usage) & Linux goals!

Best wishes... ENJOY! (Share about your journey!) p.s. see onebuck's zillion great links!