adjustable one good for a newbie?

Starting with fixed or adjustable, both choices are "right" for different reasons. The adjustable allows you to control your comfort more IMHO, and grow with settings and blade brand experience. The key, if you choose adjustable, is to try to keep a relatively fixed setting/blade combo until you get proficient enough to experiment. I suggest you start with forgiving blades and lower settings initially, and progress into more aggressive ones later. Above all, shoot for comfortable shaves initially, not perfection. Perfection comes in time, and emerges surprisingly quickly, if you can keep comfortable.

 

I couldn't agree more. Funny you say this because I just experienced your last point this morning.

 

+10000