Hi Brinny,
no one has thought to ask you what you use your computer for ... and what you expect to use the new one for. Just surfing the internet, or just writing ordinary documents, is very different from playing 3D multi-user computer games, or having to do serious geo-statistical analysis. The sophistication of the software for these is different. And then the software may (or may not) need certain hardware specifications. Linux can handle the most of whatever, but different distros have different strengths.
There is also a different mentality with Linux. You can ignore the fundamentalists who have their own special language/terminology, but you can also get a lot of practical advice from "community" help sites on the web. The software itself is "free" but some distros charge for their distros because they package them with support - and you're really paying only for the support. What I can say is that there are zillions of programs written for Linux. And if you weren't aware of it before, Android as used on mobile/cell phones is Google's dialect of Linux. So Linux is really everywhere - including big servers that support Windows and Apple users.
Now-a-days serious hardware providers (speakers, video machines, printers, etc.) provide Linux drivers, and these are often already on the most recent distros, or easily available, so you shouldn't have to worry there.
I have used Ubuntu for years and years, and older distros before it came along. Linux Lite is also good. That doesn't make me a Linux expert, but it does mean I know it does what I want (and I have gone even into geographical information systems and satellite imagery analysis) without insurmountable problems. Just don't expect it to be exactly like Windows (or Apple). If and when I've needed help I've always been able to get it. For a long time I had a dual boot machine (Windows and Linux as back-up). I travelled a lot and met strange and wonderful viruses affecting Windows. In such situations I just booted up on Linux and was able to access my (Windows) files - presentations, word-processing, or spread-sheets - no problem.
Good luck!