I have no prior knowledge of Linux but am very interested in learning about how to control my computer from such a free standpoint. I have a spare laptop that I don't use that currently has windows installed and thought it would be a fun project to turn it into a Linux machine. I have the time and am interested. Would arch Linux be a fine distro to play around with or should I begin with something easier? If I fail at installing a distro, am I a able to try again?

edit: Thank you all. I am looking for a learning experience and your opinions have solidified that I will be messing around with this.

edit2: I was successfully able to install arch with gnome on my laptop, took 1 retry and lots of google