linuxmemes

Create a separate partition for /home so you can change distro without having to backup and restore the files in your home directory. Just be sure to NOT format that partition in the installer for your new distro. Take a backup anyways.

It's mostly a clean installation. You can copy the contents of your home directory, which is where personal configuration files are stored, in the hopes that some stuff will transfer, but surely that won't be complete.

You could also try dual booting, installing two OSes and you'd choose which to run at start up. You can configure these so that files on one are accessible from the other. This is pretty easy to do if you're even slightly tech savvy.

I've found that the shiney new features are usually buggy. If you're into helping improve things, using and fixing the new stuff is a great way to contribute. If you're reasonably tech savvy, you're going to be able to figure out any distribution. With few exceptions, they're all easy enough to use. I even doubt the portrayal of Arch in this comic. If you're not into developing stuff or just want to get your feet wet before diving in more, starting with Mint is easy. And it's also easy enough to switch or expand if you decide to try something different later. There's not a lot of lock in with Linux stuff.

The other answers are spot on!

The only thing I really have to add regarding "shiny new features", is you can fire up something like VirtualBox and make "virtual" installs of other distros on your current machine.

A virtual machine or "VM" is basically running an emulated computer on your currently running computer, just like it was a program or game. But everything is self-contained in that emulated system.

So in Mint for example, you can still download other distro ISOs, get used to running the install process, trying out new things, basically just playing around and experimenting, because if you bork the whole thing it won't affect your working "bare metal" system you're using. You can just delete the file and start over as if it were a brand new computer! It's strangely fun and has a lot of practical uses. (You know, like seeing what all this fuss is about with Temple OS for instance lol)

You can find a ton of interesting distros to play with on Distrowatch.com for instance, from stuff that's meant to run on embedded devices to stuff that's straight up memes. Lol

If you decide to actually switch your bare-metal system using the advice above, you'll have a lot more experience then. :)

As for other distros, distro-hopping can be a lot of fun, but just remember in the end, there's not as much difference between distros as it seems.

Mostly it's about whether it's rolling release or LTS, the desktop environment it starts with, and the packages / package-manager it ships with, aside from different specific customizations that team might have done.

Essentially Linux is Linux, but different distros cater to a certain kind of use case, audience, community, and so on.

The beauty and fun of Linux is choice and always having more you can learn!

Also Mint is often touted as a "beginner distro" but that doesn't mean it can't be a main driver for pros! There's nothing wrong if you find you enjoy sticking with it in the long run. :)

Have a lot of fun!