Linux Mint first impressions

It was my birthday recently and I purchased a cheap reconditioned computer from Tiger Direct as a treat.
Emachine T5052 Pentium 4 HT
1GB RAM
120GB HD
ATI video (on board).
I was reading more reviews and I discovered Mint was an Ubuntu variation but with elegance.
So I took the challenge of Mint Linux... the one I mentioned a few weeks ago "If you have more than 512MB ram you should try it"
I downloaded the iso burned to a cd and ran the live version.
I do prefer Gnome desktop (Mint), over KDE, I also noticed there are lots of packages you can download for Mint because it and Ubuntu share the same repository

I purchased a 250GB drive and added it to my system, with the intention of it being used just by Linux.

Before installing I thought long and hard if I wanted to install Linux Mint after being so excited after installing PClinuxOS. I thought worse come to worse I can always go back...

Installation: After doing almost the exact same thing on my workshop computer last week I have to say, the PClinuxOS installation is much nicer smoother and looks more professional as it install than the Linux Mint install. I think the install is like this is because it is based on Ubuntu.

Live distro: Mint took longer to load than PClinuxOS

First impressions - Cage match......
Hard disk installation: Linux Mint 8/10, PClinuxOS 9/10.
Live distro: Linux Mint 8/10, PClinuxOS 9/10.
Packages available: Linux Mint 9/10, PClinuxOS 8/10.
Older computer suitability: Linux Mint 3/10, PClinuxOS 6/10.
Overall experience: Linux Mint 8/10, PClinuxOS 9/10.

I have not removed it yet.... I think Mint is still good and deserves to stay for a while, I have to give it a little longer.