Putting Linux on my laptop (Debian, Mint, Ubuntu)?

[RedString]

I'm looking to get a little more familiar with using CLI and the terminal in Linux and I'm needing some opinions on what to switch to. I've used Linux Mint 11 on a different laptop and liked it alright, it looked nice after some customizing, and I loved packages and everything Linux had to offer.
Though I got annoyed with how much slower it was when connecting to wifi than when Windows 7 was on it. Also I think it was having complications connecting to my schools router. I wouldn't mind going back to using it though, since I only replaced it with Win 7 because my gf also used the laptop and was annoyed with wifi issues and a few other software issues.

So anyways, I'm using a Thinkpad T61 with 3gb ram, 80gb hd, 1.8gh Core 2 Duo

Looking at mostly: Mint 12, Mint 11, Ubuntu 11.04, latest stable Debian (6.x?) (though I am open to other distros as long as they're stable, as well as older more stable version of distros that I listed)

I've heard many times of how people dislike Unity with the new Ubuntu - after doing some research, I'm not sure sure I'll like it either but I'm open to trying new things.

Pretty much, for me, it boils down to Mint 11, Mint 12, or latest stable Debian.

[Defience]

Why not dual boot the computer? Have Windows and lInux both installed and at start up, choose which OS you want to use. As far as which flavor of linux....seems to be a matter of opinion. You can try Debian and Mint first before installing...just google.

[RedString]

Dual booting may take up more space than I'd like to since it's on a 80gb hd. But I don't really know what size recent Mint and Debian releases are. I've read on both, and I've used Mint 11 for a couple months. I'm just looking for a second opinion, preferably someone who has used both. Searches online come up with a lot of Debian vs Ubuntu/Mint arguments.

Do you prefer the stability of Debian 6, or do you find that because of package ages, you're willing to give up stability for newer features?

(I think I'm going to try Mint 12 since I'm lazy and I think I'll have to download drivers with Debian)

[Defience]

You only need 650 MBs to install Debian. Anyway, check this out:
http://www.howtoforge.com/debian_windows_installer

[RedString]

650 MBs is not very much at all. I've considered trying Debian 6 but I'm not looking forward to messing with a bunch of things to get it running smoothly as I would probably be lost and using Google quite a bit.

Anyways, I have a new question: Linux Mint 9 or Mint 11?

LMDE is suppose to be nice, but most people say it's fairly buggy. So what do you guys think about Mint 9 Main edition?

edit: I'm going with LM LTS, horrah!