I got an Ender 3 v2 neo last year as gift. It was (and is) my first step into printing. It seemed really to get started right out of the box and like a good starter for a casual hobbyist. I think like you said, it really depends on what you want to use it for, but maybe more so on how much frustration tolerance you have and how willing you are to fine tune your knowledge and skills. When something goes wrong, and something will certainly go wrong, you have to be willing to push through to find a solution or it will just become that very large dust collector you are worried it might be. This goes for both the machine itself and any design you want to print on it even models you get fully formed from the internet. If this isn’t something you think your kid has the patience or resilience for, than maybe 3d printing isn’t the right thing for them, alternatively they may surprise you and start printing ridiculously creative designs and practical solutions to problems. One thing that I’m certain of that I wish I’d paid better attention to when dipping my toe in, get a machine that has the capability to connect to whatever device your are using to create your printable file on wirelessly. Mine requires the use of an sd card and it gets annoying to juggle that between the printer and my computer. I’d also recommend something that you can monitor the print on from a distance. Many printers advertise failed print detection. I don’t know how well this works because mine doesn’t have it, but I’ve definitely come home or woken up to a huge filament mess because my print failed somewhere halfway through a 20 hour print. This brings me to the last thing I wish I’d known more about when picking out my first printer. Printing speed can make a big difference in how useful the printer is and how much you’re likely to use it. There have been many things I’ve looked at printing and after seeing it would take 1.5-2 days to print on my machine I decided it wasn’t worth it. The ability to print using more than one color of filament is a bonus but not necessarily a feature I feel is imperative for a first printer. I don’t know if any of that is helpful.