-snip- If you're not planning to mine Bitcoin there's no reason for you to make use of Bitcoin Core,
Bitcoin Core isn't a hard requirement if you're planning to mine bitcoins, it doesn't have native ASIC or even GPU mining tool/function.
Users can mine even without it, some pools doesn't even use it but use their own implementation of Bitcoin.
So please don't associate "
not mining" with the reason of not choosing Bitcoin Core.
-snip-
Depends on the beginner, if your friend can understand instructions properly,
Then he can easily set the reference client Bitcoin Core with the help of the basic instructions already provided by other users.
Issues will arise depending on what he intended to do with the node.
So ask him his end goal before recommending any software and hardware since it'll depend on the expected load.
If just as a wallet software, then reading the instructions in bitcoin.org provided by others is good enough.