Yes it would be safe to do this if you do it as the procedure. The advantages of Ubuntu (in my opinion)
1> It has a big and active community online which is very important to troubleshoot problems
2> It is a completely free project which means the won't be neglecting the project for a commercial
3> Its a small and clean install, will have almost everything you need and a lot of extra softwares are available should you need more.
4> It is one of the easiest to use Linux and if you are trying out Linux first time, it will be a starting point before you try out other distros. You can also stick with it if you wish, its still one of the best inspite of being easy.