So Ubuntu or Linux Mint? I don't want to fiddle more than I have to.
Do you use Windows? Then use Mint. Ubuntu is an answer to a question that never really existed, which is, "How do we make a Linux brand that is different from the two other major OSes?" Not to say there's anything (majorly) wrong with Ubuntu. It's just that the point of Linux is that you can make it whatever you want it to be. So the best method of selling Linux would be to show Windows and OSX users that they don't have to feel like a stranger using their computer if they switch to Linux. And for people like me, you can throw in Arch Linux and build it from the ground up with XMonad and the barest of essentials.
Of the two, I say Mint. There's not much difference between them, because most of both is just Debian, but Mint has a less annoying default desktop environment, and if you don't want to fiddle you're probably going to stick with the default desktop environment.
I just installed Ubuntu 15.10, and, well... if I still cared about technology as much as I used to, I'd probably have jumped ship already. I hit a couple of road blocks with my Ubuntu install, and only plowed through them because I wanted to launch Steam, damnit, and didn't want to bother grabbing and writing a different install image. My issues were: - The final release of 15.10 shipped with a bug in the non-free AMD fglrx graphics drivers that breaks video output. They've since pushed a fix for this (last I saw it was in the pending updates repository), but gosh darn that is a sloppy bug to have at release. Not an issue if you don't want the vendor drivers, or have Nvidia or Intel graphics. - I had to uncomment a line in /etc/gai.conf to prefer IPv4 lookups over IPv6 get my networking working. I get the motive for why it was configured as it was, but it didn't work for me out of the box, and I've never had to touch that before. - The switcher applet for graphics drivers only really works for going from the opensource drivers to the proprietary drivers. It'll give you the option switch back, but it doesn't do a clean job of it. I had to fix things in the command line by purging all the old drivers, deleting some of the cruft that got left behind, and then reinstalling the opensource driver stack. I've never used Mint, but it many of my friends use and recommend it. If you want Ubuntu, I'd go with LTS.
One example that comes to mind is that time they decided to send all (local) search requests to Amazon so they could present "relevant" results. Mint never implemented that stuft. Their attempt at creating a desktop environment that bridges the gap between the PC and mobile devices has - strictly imho - produced rather strange results as well. Last but not least, you mentioned a lack of interest in fiddling around, and Mint certainly makes things easy with extras like the mint driver manager.
Unity is such a strange DE. Not to say it's bad, because get used to any DE/WM and you'll come to understand it. I just find it far more confusing than Windows or OSX, which isn't a good way of getting more people into Linux, which is Canonical's goal.
I've heard good things about Ubuntu but I put Mint (Cinnamon) on a stick and boot with that. There's plenty of info out there and many willing to help when there's a snag...very active Mint forums. http://www.pendrivelinux.com/ to start. https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/fatalmistakes ...a must. Chock full of useful tips.
I use Mint. Imo the idea behind it is because they run on donations, they don't want to tick off their users, so they put good defaults and make it easy to change what you want. Personally I've also found it surprisingly up to date even compared to bleeding edge distros.
I would use either Mint or one of the Ubuntu LTS releases. The Ubuntu releases in between the LTS ones can be a bit experimental and annoying. Mint's user interface is easier if you're used to Windows. The only thing less nice about Mint is that they don't officially support upgrading in place - they recommend that you wipe the system and do a clean install to upgrade, which is a bit silly. But you can upgrade Mint in place by editing your sources file and running an apt command, and in practice I've never had this cause a serious issue (well, no more serious than the issues Ubuntu upgrades cause). So, if you want an easy UI go with Mint, and if you want an easy upgrade process maybe Ubuntu LTS (but the Mint upgrade process is really quite simple once you get used to it).
Ubuntu is going to have the best compatibility out there. Period. Mint is great too and a little less sketchy, although some of its recent cinnamon updates have driven me away from it as my go to. Ubuntu is also a bit more beginner friendly imo. My personal recommendation would probably go to manjaro, which is based off of arch. Basically manjaro is quickly becoming what ubuntu is to debian. (Although debian isn't a bare bones install either, and a bit more user friendly, but you get the point) Be warned though, last time I checked its a little rough around the edges on things such as bluetooth.