Nice , but let me tell you very important things ,actually buying guide for beginners doesn't exist , everything is just about how much you want to spend and how familiar you are with internet browsing. Before you buying welding machine you need to ask your self. Do i want to weld more in the future or just to try and maybe sometimes without good result. I'm always telling people , find some garage where you can try for small cost or go to welding school and say pay for 2-3 days , even some of school are happy to try for one day.
and then you will know if you going to spend 300 - 800 usd,eur,gbp for standard china machine like is PRIMEWELD CT520D, Hobart , Lotos , Primeweld and so on or you going to spend more for rest of you life say 1500 - 3500 and you can get best world know brands like Fronius,Esab,Kemppi,Rehm ... because im always tell ppl gently ... even you driving ford ST that will be never like you driving Ferrari.
I can say PRIMEWELD CT520D cost about 500usd and if you not planing to hard kicking and you need just for hobby then no big cry .. . If i will try to compare to car then i dont like to drive citroen , peugeot , ,renault, dacia , nisan ... i like to drive VW, Audi , BMW and then Jaguar or Ferrari .. . First what you need to do with china welding machine is change power cable for 3 x 2.5mm2 110v -240v or 4x2.5mm2 380v - 440v good flexi cable , keep plasma and other cable for welding straight a much as possible , walking cup on tig torche will kill main cord inside cable in really short time. Did i payid for something like you before then answer is YES i did and now im using as STEP if i need to get something of shelf. From that day im buying just Fronius,Esab,Kemppi,Rehm cost much more but once you try ..
I hope that your welding combo will stay for long time but if you like to make a big step then let me know and i will be more then happy to help you with good welding machine ..