CPU info

Use Red Hat, because they've done a good job at making it possible for a relatively new user to use it. All these distros had it wrong - setup isn't the issue. It's making it usable as a desktop.

SuSE is nice, but it *is* different. Use whatever you're comfortable with. init modes are different on SuSE, for instance. 2 is multiuser, whereas it's 3 under Red Hat. init files are in different places. Red Hat is the most popular, so it's easier to find RPMs for when you don't feel like downloading 30 megs of source to spend an hour compiling when you could just snag a 15 meg binary.

Red Hat 9 is actually a pretty usable distribution. I'm impressed with it, and run it on two machines (neither of which is a "main" machine, but both of which get a whole lot of use).

I'd recommend playing with each for a week or two before settling on one. That way you can find which works for you. And since you really need to install Linux after Windows anyway, it'll be no problem to switch.