Definitely hook noobs via the path of least resistance. If they are only going to have < 1 BTC to play around with they don't need to know too much. Coinbase, blockchain... hell even https://bitcoin-app.com/ can be good sandbox for them to learn!

Once they see the benefits and ease of use there's plenty of time to teach them more advanced stuff.

Telling them to install the client and wait to download all the blocks is a huge turn-off for many...