Noob seeks frugal Linux

[DinDins3000]

Can anyone recommend a Linux to try for someone who is a noob (fairly competent with Windows but no programming experience)? It's for use with a laptop so I'm looking for good battery life, but would like something that is reasonably easy for a noob to install and use, and which is likely to give me a fairly easy ride when I try to set up things like printers. So far I've tried the latest Linux Mint Cinnamon, which was ok interface-wise but an absolute power hog even with TLP installed (consumed about 50% more power than Windows for the same task), and was tricky to tweak the power options for.

 

[wizardfromoz]

G'day @DinDins3000 and welcome to linux.org

I'm about to head off for my Australian evening, but I'll run a few questions by you and check in tomorrow.

1. Are you looking at one Linux as sole OS or are you dualbooting with Windows and if so which version?
2. What was your burning solution for the Mint .iso? & prefer stick or DVD?
3. Make and model of the lappie and any specs eg RAM, capacity, CPU

The more you can tell us about your environment, the better we can advise.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz