Is there any point in considering sous vide for unskilled newbie cook?
I'm a fan of sous vide, and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't make a good present. 

Sous vide is mainly a technique for improving quality, not speeding up already fast dishes. It can also help move the busy times around (e.g., so you're not so busy when all your guests arrive, useful at a restaurant or if you host parties). 

First, it's slow. A steak on a grill, you start that something like half an hour before you're going to eat, and that includes starting the charcoal. Less time for gas. A quick sous vide steak would probably be around an hour twenty before. Most of that time is just a bag sitting in the water bath, you don't even need to be home watching it. But it'd be a very late dinner after getting home from work. 

The basic workflow is first prep and sometimes brown ingredients, second get them in a bag, third they sit in the water bath for a long time (hours, typically), fourth pull from water bath, fifth finish (brown again, garnish with sauces, season, etc.).

And honestly, it's fiddly. At least with reasonably priced equipment. You can (and I often do) use ziploc freezer bags, but getting enough air out so they don't float takes practice (and good clips to attach them to a rack). Non-chamber vacuum sealers are often a pain, as they try to suck any liquids into the seal area (often resulting in a failed aeal). 

I think most sous vide cookbooks, etc. are also intended for non-novice cooks. 

But if you get it right, it makes an amazing steak! 

For soups and stews, I'd suggest a slow cooker (Crock Pot). Prep in the morning, cook all day while at work, ready when you get home. Or, going the opposite direction, a pressure cooker. Personally I've only used stovetop ones, but I hear the electric ones are really easy to use, though slightly less capable than stovetop.