Take a look at blue-build.org. You create a recipe (not very difficult), that can be set to use a Fedora atomic distro like Aurora, Bazzite or Kinoite as a base, then add your own apps to the image it creates so they’re all installed along with the OS. It’s really solid and also supports rollbacks.
Linux Mint is usually recommended for beginners.
For something more cutting edge, but stable, take a look at Fedora Kinoite (Windows like), Fedora Silverblue or Bazzite (great for gaming).
You can also use tools from blue-build.org (easier) or Universal Blue (harder unless you’re comfortable with containers) to customize them further, if you want.