Originally Posted By: Cardenio327
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Xfce, it is probably a little bit lighter on resources than MATE, and in my opinion looks a lot nicer. A lot less reliance on GNOME as well. Linuxmint Xfce edition or Xubuntu would be great distros to start out on Linux in. Xfce has kind of an improved XP feel to it, like what Windows Longhorn should have been, not the abomination that Vista was.
Seeing how old the OP's laptop is, 32 bit is probably the better option, as it doesn't have very much RAM. However, 32 bit support is being dropped rapidly, Chrome browser on Linux and the new OpenSUSE distro no longer support it, among others.
Another reason to use 64 bit if you have the hardware is the NX bit. NX bit support is now built into the Linux kernel, it limits privilege escalation just like Windows, making the system that much more secure.
Most of my linux installs have no gui but when I do need one I use Xfce. It is by far my favorite linux gui, but I run most of my installs headless.