Devcoin is by far THE BEST coin to buy for noobs. You can get like 20 for 1 penny right now, and they could go up to 1 penny each in the next 3 months. Plus, they have once been worth $10 EACH, so at 20 for 1 penny it's a great investment.
For more info, read here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=210366.0Devcoin and some other 'alt' coins are a great place to start playing around with cryptocurrency. For newbies, it lessens the consequences of say sending coins to a nonexistent address. You can get used to the way a cryptocurrency works without being as worried about making a mistake with your coins.
Devcoin does have some interesting properties too, I've been considering putting together an article or two on it.