fedora isn't bad, but it's rpm based and if i were you, i would stay away from those.
gentoo is source-based meaning your computer builds all of the packages to be best suited for your computer. while this means that there can be some long compile times, it also gives you the opportunity to fix any problems that arise. one of the most annoying things with a binary based distro was that you were helpless when a package doesn't work because it's binary. with gentoo you can overlay any version of any package. it's given me a large understanding of what linux is and it certainly isn't for someone who doesn't have much time on their hands.
If you do go binary, I would recommend arch linux. the community is good and the package manager/packages are very good.
