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I started playing 40k when I was a little kid with the battle for macragge starter set. I had some ultramarines, crappily painted of course, but I loved the hobby. Things got in the way though so I'm just now getting into it again. I don't want to play smurfs though, and I want to build a new army from scratch. I know Dark Eldar are hard for newbies but I've done alot of reading and I think I could make them work.
I want them just because their models are so plain cool and their strategy is hard hitting and fast.

My other choice would be Orks but the high model count is a little daunting painting wise. I'm asking the community if Dark Eldar could be used even by a newbie or if its just really bad idea.

Btw if this is in the wrong place i'm sorry but I don't know which forum to post this on.

Dark eldar is a pretty strategic army and relies on hit and run tactics..... most of the time you just move orks forward, the learning curve would be greater on the dark eldar but if you jump into it, watch battle reports and read strategies and army lists youll get a good idea of what you have to do, if dark eldar are what you want... do it and youll learn.. nothing in this game is too hard

DE can be a lot of fun. Be prepared to lose...a lot when getting started though.

They are certainly an army that requires a lot more finese and thought than, well, pretty much anything else. if that's appealing, jump right in. I did.

If you wanna play DE, then do so. When I came back from my hiatus that spanned the entirety of 4th edition and half of 5th, I went straight into Eldar. They're not an easy army to learn, and it took me a bit to become effective with them, but now my buddies that I play with groan when I pull out my harlequins, rangers and far seer.

My point is, theres no point in compromising when picking an army. If you want to play a more tactical and fragile army, don't worry about the difficulty, just do it. You'll learn the army, and the fact that you have something other than marines will often throw people for a curve, especially when your army is quick and able to stay out of the enemies effective range, only assaulting on your terms.

I agree. If Dark Eldar are what appeal to you, then go for it! My most regular opponent chose de for his first army, and after a year of playing, he's going fine. Of course, my gaming group is fairly casual, but he does generally better than my Blood Angels playing friend who started at the same time as him, and about as well as me and I've been playing for a few years.
Naturally, they'll be tough to grasp well, but if you prefer friendly games it shouldn't be that big a deal.

My only suggestion if you go for Dark Eldar is this:

Read the big rule book, FAQs and the codex very carefully, before you do any further research. Come up with the theme/type of army you want to build. Then with rulebook and codex in hand hit the internet for some advice.

Understanding the ins and outs of the DE book will help prevent you buying things you wont use etc. As well, getting a plan in your head before you hit the internet will help prevent the copypaste attitude I seem to see in so many new DE players.

I play Dark Eldar, and I really enjoy them, although I have yet to win a game with them... But that's through my own fault, and I find it fun each game trying to learn how to perfect my tactics to finally bring out victory. I guess that applies to all armies, but basically I'm saying not to let this aspect of the gaming side deter you. However, another aspect of the gaming side you probably should be a little more concious of is the style of the army. I'm no expert on 40k and the whole tactical thing with each army, but I would recommend that you proxy your marines or something as DE, just to see if you like the way they function.

Models-wise, I agree, they are pretty epic models, and when I first started out 40k I remember caving in (I regret it now) with my Ork army and selling them off, because I became so overloaded with models to paint I couldn't handle it. I've taken a different approach to painting now, but even so I don't think Dark Eldar are an army that will bog you down in terms of painting, and you can bring out some very interesting paint schemes with them. Although it'd probably be good if you're okay with vehicle painting (not skill-wise but motivation-wise) because DE are obviously very fragile, and I personally have a transport for every squad that has the option.

Bear in mind though, being a DE player, this post is probably very biased in their favour

My first army was DE, so I'd say DE is perfectly fine for a newbie! But no one is lying when they say DE is a very difficult army to play, but it's a very fun army as well, so if that's what you want then go with it!

I play DE and I love them. They are inherently unforgiving, but not in a way where they're specifically newb-unfriendly. Rather, you just can't afford mistakes during battle, regardless of how long you've been playing them. If anything, learning with such an army should only make you a better player in the long run.