What distribution should I run on my ASUS R503U
 

I would make a new topic but my question is similar.
I am running an ASUS R503U.
1.7 Dual-Core, 2Gig RAM.
Windows 8 is sluggish with this processor (Okay, APU), and I might just hold until Windows 8.1(Blue) comes out, but any suggestions on what can I use that will be performing well?

On a machine like that any recent distribution should run just fine.

Thank you so much!

Asus R503u owner here running Linux Mint 16 Cinnamon 64-bit. I formatted the D: partition which obliterated the Windows 8 system restore image. I called up Asus support and requested a system restore disc and they said they don't have one and that I would need to send the machine in. I installed this distro without any issues.

Thank you!
I was going to stick around with Windows 8, turning off features and optimizing(defrag) pretty much made the OS tamed.
I was a fan of Linux Mint, and I won't hesitate to install the XFCE version when I jump ship, but I must admit that Cinnamon looks very nice.

No complaints with the new OS here. I added another 2 gigs of ram to the machine. I'm new to Linux and so far and am impressed with the open source apps that come with it out of the box (office suite, and Gimp a photo editor like Photoshop) I was a previous user of acid pro which is a digital audio workstation so I just downloaded the Linux counterpart Ardour and will be checking this out. Also installed my HP photosmart 5520 printer without incident. When/if you decide to install Linux I recommend this distro.

I am curious of bypassing the UEFI, I am skeptical of risking it.
I love the layout of ZorinOS but will it be able to install without a hitch?
Let alone, this "UEFI" is making us take more steps just to enjoy a Linux distro.

I'm not familiar with UEFI secure boot at all. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. You looked into this further than I did. I just read an article that said in order to install Linux on a Windows 8.1 machine, you need to disable secure boot and add a signing key. I didn't do any of this. The only change I made in UEFI was the boot order, making the DVD drive with the Linux Mint installation disc boot first.

At least I don't remember making this change. When I ran the installation, I could've clicked Next right through a screen that mentions this and didn't think twice about it.

You either add a signing key or disable Secure Boot, you don't need to do both. Some distributions, like Fedora and newer Ubuntu versions, should work with Secure Boot out of the box, IIRC.

I would also suggest mint, maybe mageia or even PC-BSD. Use some live DVDs or thumb drives and attach all your peripheral toys to see which plays best with your equipment.

I'm not sure about codecs and mageia, however.