well the best thing for a newbie to do woule be to start off growing in soil. this will give you a nice feel of how to take care of plants and how they progress, i did hydroponics on my first grow and it seemed like everything that could have possibly went wrong did. (im not saying dont do it... im more than willing to believe i just jumped into the joy of growing way to fast). now i have a bubbleponics system and it is a fairly decent system if your going to go with the light, which i suggest you do they are cheap, very bright, and stay very cool, i have the dual spectrum II lights they are badass. the system is very quiet the loudest thing in my closet are the fans... i cant hear anything else when the door is closed.
good luck buddy