Right now I'm installing Mandrake 10.0 just because it seemed to be the easiest to use and since I'ma newbie, figured this was the one for me... But is it?
I do programming (Java, PHP, MySQL) and basic work station stuff like photo editing, surfing, mp3s, etc.
I'm curious which is best for me? I dont know the real difference between them all but Mandrake seemed to be the newbie friendliest.

One man's meat is another man's poison.

I prefer debian, but I have been using Linux for about 8 years.

I also use SuSE 9.1 PRO It has all the dev tools you need and is very user friendly.

i started with RH9 (now the fedora core line) due to the ease and at the time it was the only distro i could get to install properly and have all hardware working on my laptop. MDK10 ate it self with an update, that took roughly 2weeks to connect, so i refuse to go near MDK again.

for me starting with a heavy GUI based distro made the transition easier as i could work out a lot of the basics including the install intuitivly as they were close enough to what i already know in windows.

i have now moved to debian and am liking it more and more. i have only been really working linux for about 8-10months.

Mandrake is fine for learning Linux on.
At least 80-90% of the software between distros is almost identical.
I usually suggest sticking with a distro long enough to learn some over casual distro hopping. Since you are the one that has to make the choice, you might as well know what you are looking at, as in realizing the real differences and not just the superficial ones.

mandrake is a not a bad choice for a newbie. if you plan on learning more of what's under the hood though you might consider installing another distro such as debian or slackware. i would suggest this after you feel comfortable with the basics. as far as software most standard distro's are very close in comparison. good luck!