Yeah this should probably be in the official guitar thread, you'll get much more response there I think.
For a beginner guitar, be it acoustic, electric or bass, I always think Yamaha is a good starting point. Think of it like the Skoda of the guitar world, fairly well made and good bang for buck. Sure it may not have the fancy name badge, but the workmanship is good and it'll last you ages without breaking the bank. It's always worth asking the shop to give it a basic set-up to check for any niggles, get the action and intonation set properly, and the like. Also ask for fresh strings if it needs it (particularly if it's been opened or sold as an ex-demo model)
Acoustic, something from their 400 series upwards, the 730 used to be very good bang for buck but that is going back some now since I last shopped for one. No idea what they're selling these days. The A3R/A3M were also good workhorses, provided you can get on with the satin/matt neck which I couldn't when i tried one. Not sure if they improved this on the 2nd iteration.
Electric the pacifica 112V (there is a cheaper plain 012/112J, the V has slightly better hardware and the additional humbucker coil tap which makes it more versatile). The 212 is just a prettier version of the 112V, no meaningful improvement so not worth the money IMO. You'd need to the 612V-II for that (SD pickups, improved woods, nut, bridge etc).
Note Yamaha do use a relatively narrow neck though. I really like it, but if you have giant hands or podgy fingers you may want something a bit wider, so try before you buy.
As for amps, the THR is a good suggestion for a beginner and it has the all important headphone option. The sound is good (from trying one in a shop, i've not owned one) and it has a reasonable range of sounds and built-in FX. It also serves as an interface and comes with the beginner's version of cubase which is easily learned via online help enough to get recording and editing. I think this is a wise suggestion from your friend. It's quite portable too.
The only downsides to the Yamaha THR10 are:
1) the lack of an external FX loop (at first this won't matter, in a few years it might, but alone shouldn't be a deal breaker at this stage)
2) the use of digital modelling rather than analogue (if that matters to you at all, and for a beginner it probably shouldn't)
3) the lack of a line-out/PA feed etc which means you can't use it as a monitor as easily - they missed a trick here IMO. Why they didn't make a THR10 with some of the extra circuitry of the THRH (head version) I don't know...
4) price. It used to go for sub £300 but those days are long gone. For a complete suck-it-and-see beginner it might steer you to something cheaper. There is a good 2nd hand trade for these though, so it's not like you'd be buying a turkey.
Similar amps I recall being suggested were little Blackstar numbers (the stereo ones) like the V3-40W and its smaller siblings. They used to be cheaper, and I think were similarly spec'd though possiby larger size. They may have used proprietary recording software i think rather than an industry standard like the cubase family (others exist too). Not tried them personally, but the Blackstar brand has a good rep.
Edit: a quick comparison to the Jet guitar.
The Jet 400 is basically similar to the yamaha 012 in spec: both are HSS strat clones with ceramic pickups (cheapest of the cheap), 5-way switching with no coil tap, beginners whammy/trem bridge etc. They both have 25.5inch scale length (fret spacing should be the same), the Jet has a slightly wider neck/fretboard (42mm at nut to 40.5mm on the yamaha).
As above I would go for something with coil taps though, and the 112V gets you alnico 5 magnetic pickups (generally more desirable than ceramic) The tone I got from my 112V was surprisingly good, and IMO fine for beginner-intermediate level. Not prone to too much squeal. Eventually you'll want to upgrade beyond this, but by that point you'll know it's worth the money and what tone you're after. I would worry the ceramic pickups won't last you as long if you find you get into it. If you want the maple fretboad look for the 112VM models (inculding the rather appealing 112VMX for an all-natural body look if that floats your boat).
The equivalent spec'd Jet is the js-600 which is a similar price. Personally I don't like the use of a miniswitch for coil-tapping though (as opposed to the push-pull tone pot knob with the Yamaha). I can see that getting in the way when trying to adjust volume or tone on the fly and I would worry it might prevent wrapping your little finger around the volume pot while simultanesouly playing the strings or using the whammy bar.
