[raymo]

I suspect that in this day and age of much cheaper, larger scopes,
most newbies would quickly get bored with the offerings of a small
refractor, especially a chromatically challenged achro.
There is a fine line between the largest scope that will continue to
get used, and one that won't, and several factors decide where the line is drawn; age, gender, fitness, interest level, and budget. My own line that I used to recommend to my newbie adult students was young, and fit,-- 8 or-10" Newt, according to preference, middle aged in normal health --8", and elderly or frail--6". There was nothing, of course, to stop the more involved ones from upsizing at a later date.
From my own experience of almost 70 yrs of using scopes of most commercially available types, I can safely say that if I could only have one scope [this applies to visual use, not imaging], I would rather have a
mass produced SW or GSO 8"Newt [or even better, a 10"] than the
finest 100/120mm APO refractor. For me aperture matters more than the
tiniest possible pin point stars. My last scope before I gave it all away
was 120mm, and my observing life went out with a definite whimper
rather than a bang. I understand that many refractor aficionados
would probably disagree, but each to his own.
raymo