[LightDestory]

Well, all I can say is: it depends on which type of usage.

• As a fast to get and easy to setup Ubuntu & derivatives are the choose. Again speaking of Ubuntu if I need a low waste resource I go with Xubuntu and if I need some fancy style I like UbuntuMate or UbuntuBudge
  Every distro has its own preset of installed software, such as terminal, editor and explorer, but they are all the same so no need to "learn how to use them"
  
• I personally bring with me an extra USB drive with a portable and persistence Linux environment: on this specific case I used for a lot of time PuppyLinux, that is very good, but lately I am trying out Kanotix
  
• On my laptop, that I bring with me during university lessons, I am using Fedora because I am a little bored by Ubuntu/Debian repositories
  
• I would never use ArchLinux and derivatives (Manjaro, I am looking at you)  because it is the most up to date Linux ever but at the same time is it unstable
  

Regarding the "office work" such as wordprocessing, excel and printing... it is a very hard work. I have tried using OpenOffice and LibreOffice but I am used to Microsoft Office suite and these two suites doesn't provide me the same feeling. I am unable to stylize the text as I like. So, despite having OpenOffice installed in case of need, I am pretty good using the WebApp version of Microsoft Office and when I can't use them I try the Google Docs suite.

About printing... I have never get any problem about that, Printer manufactures rarely provide drivers for Linux but still it works thanks to "standard channel communication" that printer MUST be compatible. Of course Linux is missing any type of application to check the health (carriage status, maintenance actions) of the device, so if your printer isn't a display and button equipped you don't have almost any chance to perform some important actions, like cleaning up the ink heads.

Regarding GUI... I set always dark-like themes, remove any waste from the Desktop, set to small the bars and use a widget such as Conky to set up custom system monitors, YOU CAN DO ALMOST EVERYTHING WITH CONKY, I LOVE CONKY