For a sweet desktop, try Mint with Cinnamon

Linux Mint 17 offers long-term support; emerges as open source alternative for Windows XP users.

By Tom Henderson, Network World |  Operating Systems, insider, Linux 1

September 08, 2014, 1:03 PM — If Red Hat's specialization is enterprise application, development and hosting, and Ubuntu's is anything that moves, then Linux Mint is carving only one niche: desktop dominance.

Linux Mint 17 continues in a line of Linux desktop-focused releases, and in testing we found it's become more mature. Like the other two Linux distributions we recently tested, Linux Mint is supported for a longer term -- five years from April 2014. Linux Mint gives you a choice of user interfaces, including Gnome-branch Cinnamon, its half-brother Mate, or the lightweight Xfce version. 

Other pertinent points: These UIs can be downloaded in either 32- or 64-bit versions. You'll need a gig+ of user memory for a smooth installation. Mint runs on Intel CPUs only, so no playing around on ARM-based tablets for now.