I've been using linux since 94 and there have been so many changes that its hard to quantify.

In general, I would encourage new users to use either Ubuntu or Fedora (probably Ubuntu to be honest). These communities are the most newbie friendly and offer the most migration assistance.

Personally I'm a Fedora user, but Ubuntu has a very active community with lots of documentation available. In general stay away from more specialized / esoteric distros until you actually understand linux enough to solve your own problems. Yes Arch / Nix is very cool but if you don't yet know the basics can be overwhelming.

All in all, I would suggest dual-booting or running Linux in a VM at first. Try to make it your permanent OS and find out "what works and what doesn't". Most of your hard problems will fall into 2 categories: (a) Windows apps you depend on that you need to find a linux alternative for, and (b) Specific hardware that may not have full support. For instance, your "all in one" printer may or may not work fully in Linux. Often times "b" problems can be overcome, but requires using different programs to utilize its different features (ie. CUPS for printing, but separate scanning program to utilize the printers scanner).