I have recently become a LinuxMint fan, here are my standard tweaks
sudo apt-get install build-essential vim
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-addons ubuntu-restricted-extras
sudo apt-get install mate-backgrounds
sudo apt-get install chromium-browser
If you want real chrome ( not chromium ), just go download it ... Chrome download page
I prefer MATE over cinnamon, but I tend to remap the windows key to the menu, by default it is control+win-key. Right click on the menu button and pull up the preferences ( Super_L is the windows key ). Changing it does nothing until you restart X. The logical reason for the strange key mapping is for distinction when using virtualization or remote desktop.
One other perk with LinuxMint is that the standard releases ship with the codecs and libdvdcss2