Would Nikon's D7000 be a good beginner DSLR?

I've never owned a DSLR but I've been doing a lot of research on them and I've been leaning towards the D7000. I figured that if I could afford it then why not? Even though I've never owned a DSLR I'm not new to them. A close friend of mine owns a Nikon D5100. I like the 5100 but honestly I feel like I would eventually grow out of it. I definitely want to get more into photography I've just never been able to afford a good camera until now and am not sure what my money situation will be like in the future if I want to upgrade to a better camera so the D7000 seems like a good choice to me. I was even looking at the d700 but it's a bit on the pricey side. Plus I've been reading about a replacement soon for it. I'm not sure if that's too much camera for me though. Any advice or suggestions world be great!

It is an excellent camera whether a beginner, advanced amateur or a pro that needs a backup camera

If you can afford it, then the anser is YES. It is a good DSLR. But, if you want a cheaper version, you might want to consider the D90.

Growing out of the D5100 seems easy because it's a rather small and light body, but it does exactly what other more expensive models do as well. Shutter speed, aperture and ISO - that's the point of DSLRs. In fact, d5100 and D7000 use the same sensor so quality, noise, video - all the same.

D700 is something I'd skip right now, new high models are coming out and if you would need the D700 you wouldn't be asking us.

So, D7000 is great but do you need those 6fps and good AF (never bad to have heh)? If yes, then go get it!

Here's a DSLR Buying Guide - http://www.the-dslr-photographer.com/2009/11/which-dslr-to-buy/

Yes the Nikon D7000 is a great camera,
you can buy an instuctional dvd for it at this link, they also have an advanced DVD called beyond the basics, These disks have really helped me learn about my new camera
http://www.quickprocameraguides.com/products-t84/whats-new/nikon-d7000.aspx

This long overdue Nikon D7000 review is based on my 30 day experience with the camera. Due to my busy schedule and a very high demand on the D7000, I was not able to obtain a copy earlier to test. I actually thought it was a good thing to wait, because I did not want to get one from the initial production (which seemed to be rushed, resulting in lots of bad samples out there). Ever since the Nikon D7000 was released, I have been getting many questions from current and potential buyers, asking about backfocus issues, overexposed images, bad video quality, autofocus problems, image quality at low and high ISOs and hot pixels. For this review, I made a note to myself to test the camera against each of the listed potential problems and report on my findings.