Many roads to Rome,
In general one tend to have a better impression of an aesthetically well polished distro, and light distrohopping would give a potential user a first impression, a basic idea of how it looks and how to move around / do some modifications and so on, but one doesn't really get to the goodies or caveats.... Buzzing about doesn't really give the potential user any idea about how to live with it, and living with it would be the natural objective...
A general user without need for targeted distros (gaming/graphics/whatever) would probably get the most out of it by picking one of the mature, popular cover it all distros. Ubuntu, Mint and similar. The user gets to try out "all" desktop environments, all the mainstream applications, and develop a relationship + preferences over time. You don't really get that by distro hopping, and you won't get that from the solution I prefer/advocate - a targeted clean single DE installation.
Within Ubuntun/Mint or similar distros with many years on their back, the user will find the useful, the useless, the preferred and the annoyances, and when that's sorted out, that would be the time to explore potentially better suited alternatives -pointed towards preferences and actual usage. There is nothing wrong in being content with the initial choice. Most users will be fine, that's why these distros are popular and have a large userbase, which is helpful. It might however be advantageous to do a clean reinstall with only what you use if you have experimented and explored a lot with the initial install.
If already having a fairly good idea of what you want eg a specific desktop, get properly aquaintained with that one before mucking about with the rest. Establish clear references to compare the lot with.
If exploring on old hardware, Linux tend to get the best out of the hardware, but it doesn't add cores or threads to the CPU, better wireless or increase the graphics capacity. Linux on old hardware isn't miraculous. But I certainly feels that way. Before stressing the limits of the hardware proper.
Hardware limitations aren't Linux exclusive or a old hardware thing though, banted 8gb Windows and Mac Neos are rather fresh deliberate limitations too. Am aware of educational institutions who will not offer Neos to their pupils and students due to the low specs.
