wubi ubuntu

i recently acquired a laptop that has windows xp as the OS. I want to learn how to operate linux so i was looking into the different distributions of linux. I found that they are very hard to install so i am trying to decide whether to get wubi ubuntu which is very easy to install or get another distribution that is much easier to use so i can familiarize myself with the system before i get ubuntu. Can anyone lead me in the right direction or tell me if ubuntu would be too hard to use for a newbie like me?

Download some live-cd's and boot those.

would debian be ok to use in my case

no. trust me, if you cant install ubnutu, even with wubi, then dont mess with teh d3bi4n. this coming from someone who uses debian day to day. its not for you.

i can install ubuntu with wubi but which of the two systems is better for me?

wubi is slightly slower than dual booting, and also wont allow using the acpi so no suspend/resume no hibernate. i'd say install ubuntu, it helps you set up dual boot so its all easy and nice. after a few months switch to debian if you want.