!!! Take Notice !!!
Before installation is advisable that you try a live CD of the release that you will try to install.
If that release doesn't perform well on your system, then you might consider not to install it.
Beware that a Live CD has limited hardware support, therefore it might not cover all your hardware capabilities, where a full install of that release might. Also consider that you're running from a CD, therefore expect some delay when using a Live CD. Performance should be considerably better on an installed distribution than on a Live CD.