Hi, I've been using linux for a while (various distros) but somehow they dissapointed me. So I need help choosing one, I know what I'm looking for, a lightweight, fast, minimalist but customizable enough, with no specific graphical environment, bleeding edge distro for a new laptop (used for studying and surfing internet), that hopefully works with my hardware.

I want to have the possibility to compile from source to make my own changes but also to install from binaries easily. I'm not a linux expert, not even an advanced user but I'm willing to learn anything to get my distro running so I'm not looking for a full out of the box distro.
It would be great if this distro also had a good community.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

You've described pretty much every Linux distribution that has an open development model. You'll have to be more specific.

Arch.

I don't use it regularly, but I have played with in Virtual Box. It meets your criteria for build-from-the-ground-up, customize-to-your-desires, learn-along-the-way.

Arch users seem to be very loyal to the distro and the Arch wiki is quite thorough.

Gentoo might be a second choice, but it also includes compile-everything-yourself, which is not one of your criteria.

I may be wrong but I think that some distros are faster than others, lots of them come with an out of the box gui and software, and not all distros are bleeding edge. Sorry, by now I can't be more specific.

Thanks a lot! Arch seems to fit my tastes. I'm open to other options too.

Slackware or Arch.

Perceived speed is usually a function of user interface, which brings with it an alternate selection of graphical tools. Most people find LXDE or XFce to be faster than Gnome or KDE. Many distributions offer an LXDE and/or XFce user interface. The GUI is always an optional component; you can use a command line only interface if you choose.

If a distribution has an open development model, you can choose to update against the 'bleeding edge'. For example, Fedora has rawhide and Ubuntu has their alpha and beta software. You can choose to run all bleeding edge, or selectively update specific packages to the development versions.

A Debian Netinst, a basic minimum and add as you go.
Arch
Slackware
Crux
Sourcemage, for a really fun time.