What is *BSD like compared to your standard Linux distro? How different is it?

Everything kernel and lowlevel is different, but most of the packages are the same. There's less hardware support and most *BSDs are harder to install, but for the most part it looks similar (because desktop managers!).

Just jump in and do it, but do be aware that your hardware may not work.

I only use FreeBSD: IMO: The network is more stable, the level of shit that randomly does not work is lower, better ZFS integration wth stuff like ZFS on root, OS installation is as hard as debians, WAY LESS OVERHEAD, Install directly from source (ports), the most amazing documentation that software can have, everything by one vendor. Hardware support is the same as linux (good for servers, meh for clients), you can run linux binaries, it is more secure by default (system harden stuff during installation, no users preconfigured, su is disabled for normal users, no root access over ssh), everything you read about freebsd online will work for your freebsd, more unix than linux