If you can install Gentoo, more power to you, and I recommend running with it. If you want a much more user-friendly Gentoo experience, try out VidaLinux. It's got a Gentoo backbone, but everything is directed at the casual user, and it's really easy to customize from my experience. It's been the best Linux distro I've tried.

However, I've heard about a million and one good things about Ubuntu, so that's definately an option. They even have a live CD you can check out if you don't want to take the plunge with a full-on installation.