I now have a new SSD.. and planning on a dual boot.

Best Linux distribution for a beginner?

Undoubtedly, Ubuntu or Mint.

Agreed; Ubuntu is so simple to install and feels intuitive to use. It's well packaged and supported.

Go for Mint. That is the best one for beginniners. Never use ubuntu on desktop :)

Arch Linux is the best for beginners (Kappa)

Ubuntu. I use it on my laptop (fuck you drivers) and it's the best shot at install and forget. everything works for me.

In case you don't get it, @Oussama is just joking here. Don't try arch as your first distro.

I would also recommend Mint. It's awesome.

I agree with the above in a more general sense. Anything Ubuntu flavoured is a good place to start, because of the vast support. I prefer the KDE environment, but there are lots of options for many situations, and of course preferences.

go with arch, if you're a begginer just stick with wiki instructions and you'll have a very nice linux distro working for you (: