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Freespire is a very well put together distro in RC status, that still has a few small bugs to work out.  Over all I am quite impressed, and am comfortable recommending it to most anyone who is interesting in trying Linux out.
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Just about any distro these days installs nicely to the hard drive. What can sometimes happen is that the system breaks when packages are added to the collection which the distro provides by default. And when packages are removed from the provided collection, no-longer-necessary «helper» programs may be left behind, or «orphaned». Work-arounds include sticking with packages which the distro itself supplies in its repository. In the world of Debian, some distros may «tweak» purely-Debian packages to fit better with the overall distro. It is in this context that the question presents itself: is the Debian «Aptitude» tool something which a Debian-based distro might want to use when it builds its version on the shop floor? And might even a certain type of newbie want eventually to «graduate» to Debian in a more nearly perfectly «pure» form and use Aptitude like this? Has Aptitude not been widely discussed because it's not yet in widespread use? ‑‑ This essay seeks to raise these questions from the perspective of a total newbie.

PCLinuxOS, simply put, is one of the easiest to use, stable, consistent, and enjoyable distros out there.
I honestly feel that it has few equals at this point in time.
MiniME proves to be no exception, just smaller.

In the end, I can honestly say that Ubuntu seems to be worthy of much of it's hype. It really is a solid, reliable and easy to use desktop Linux. Once the installer has been simplified and if the Ubuntu team addresses the multi-media issues, it may well be worthy of all of the hype. And I still stand by my original view that it is easily one of the best Gnome implementations I have encountered.

This distro has it all, speed, stability, look and feel and the backing of Fedora Core.  
I can honestly say that if Texstar and the gang over at PCLinuxOS gave up on the project, I have found it's replacement.
It's that good.
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Ark is a Distro well worth trying. While aimed at the new user I believe the experienced user will find it a comfortable and easy change of pace. Everything basically works, the Mission Control Center is a paragon of simplicity, KDE 3.5 is surprisingly stable here and works well. I can easily recommend Ark for both the new and experienced user.

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I can honestly say that not a lot seems to have changed in the Mandriva world since 9.0 other than the name.  A great promise, a great look, an awesome configuration program, and poor for Linux stability.
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Vector Linux is a small distro based on Slackware, it's goal is to be lightweight, quick and easy to use. This is particularly true on older equipment. I think it is fair to say that they have succeeded.

Mepis has been known for some time now for creating a very solid usable Debian based distro which has been worked and reworked into a unique and very easy to like Live-CD based Distro. MepisLite takes this to a new level by working out the bloat from the base in order to allow it to run smoothly and reliably on older equipment. According to the website: MEPISLite offers the 2.4.29 and 2.6.10 kernels because they seem to work better with older hardware. There are no plans to upgrade to a newer 2.6 kernel at this time. MEPISLite is an entry level version of desktop MEPIS designed for home users. It has been used successfully with as little as a 2 GB hard drive and a Pentium 2 processor with 128MB of RAM. MEPISLite preinstalls a full complement of software including KOffice, Kontact, and Firefox.

GoboLinux provides another interesting view of what Linux can be, it takes the standard file structure and reworks it into a style intended to ease the installation of packages. While it's not for the Linux newbie, but it isn't as hard as it could be either. The feel is quick, solid and reliable and worth a look.

grml is a bootable CD (Live-CD) based on Knoppix and Debian. This one is a bit different, grml is set up for the text/command line user and includes only lightweight window managers.  But overall, grml is solid, likable and gives a very fresh look at an old way of doing things.

Symphony OS is a new twist on the desktop and what it should be like. It is a live cd based on Knoppix, which is a solid and very high quality debian live cd. The desktop is called Mezzo which is built over FVWM which all comes together in a very easy to use easy to navigate and likable desktop.