New laptop and distro advice

[Guest sam4444]

Hi, I have never owned a linux laptop before and I don't know how I should go about purchasing one. I have a macbook pro which I am quite sick of now and looking for something different. It is also about to go bad. I want my new laptop to use a linux OS but I'm not sure which distro and I'm not sure how to go about purchasing a computer in which I will use a linux distro. Here is what I will be using the computer for:

 

-Statistal analysis(R, SAS if possible)

-Minor software development

-Video streaming

-Word processing

-Storing and managing music

-Carrying it to class

 

Here are the minimum hardware specs I would like:

 

-6 GB RAM

-HDMI port

-Good battery life

-256 GB SSD

-Intel i5 processor

 

I'm not sure if I should buy a Windows notebook and wipe it and download linux, or I should try and get something pre-installed with linux.

 

Also, which distribution do you think would fit my needs best? I'm not very good with command line now, but I am looking to get much better because I like what I do know.

 

Thank you.

 

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