I recommend
Gentoo Linux, it's my favourite distro
The advantage it has over other distros is that the default package comes with (almost) nothing, so you can choose the software you do want and leave the software you don't want out of it.
It takes some time to get it all right, but once you have installed everything you'll have a system which is totally adapted to your hardware and to your software needs.
If you're stuck at a problem, there's no need to worry. The
Gentoo Support Forums are said to be one of the best in the world. When I still had Gentoo, I never had a problem that couldn't be solved with their help.
/ 
