I don't know if it was the old Complete FreeBSD or even if it was Greg Lehey, though I'm pretty sure it was him, who wrote that each BSD's slogan helps give you a clue if they're the one you want. I'm paraphrasing broadly, but I hope I keep the spirit of what he wrote. FreeBSD has the slogan, the power to serve. If you're looking for a server O/S it may be your best choice. NetBSD's slogan is (was? I don't see it on their home page now), Of course it runs NetBSD, meaning they emphasized clean, portable, code. OpenBSD's slogan, at the time was something like only one security hole in 20 years (it's changed slightly, but it's similar now), meaning, if security was your primary focus, it might be your best fit.
I don't know if DragonFly was around then. I've not used Net or DragonFly in years. OpenBSD often is better at working out of the box on laptops. On the other hand, I've found it harder to multiboot it on a laptop with other systems if the laptop uses uefi boot, but I'm a moron, so that doesn't necessarily mean anything. FreeBSD, and some desktop oriented offshoots, such as GhostBSD and Hellosystem, all seem to run pretty well on laptops, as well as towers and servers. (I've only tried Ghost and Hellosystem on laptop, no idea on towers or servers).
But as I think has been said, one good thing to try is running whatever suits your fancy in VirtualBox or other VM. You might feel, Wow, this is great, or perhaps Wow, this was a mistake. But my opinion, and everyone else's are, at the end of the day, just our opinions and your will matter most to you.
(Boy am I great at stating the obvious or what? No applause, just throw money).
I don't know if DragonFly was around then. I've not used Net or DragonFly in years. OpenBSD often is better at working out of the box on laptops. On the other hand, I've found it harder to multiboot it on a laptop with other systems if the laptop uses uefi boot, but I'm a moron, so that doesn't necessarily mean anything. FreeBSD, and some desktop oriented offshoots, such as GhostBSD and Hellosystem, all seem to run pretty well on laptops, as well as towers and servers. (I've only tried Ghost and Hellosystem on laptop, no idea on towers or servers).
But as I think has been said, one good thing to try is running whatever suits your fancy in VirtualBox or other VM. You might feel, Wow, this is great, or perhaps Wow, this was a mistake. But my opinion, and everyone else's are, at the end of the day, just our opinions and your will matter most to you.
(Boy am I great at stating the obvious or what? No applause, just throw money).