Solid reply above me from omnidata, and I'm not going to try to compete, just adding more.
I primarily use a french press.
I have a Hario hand grinder similar to the one omnidata posted above. These are great and consistent. BUT some days (okay a lot of days) you just don't feel like grinding for a minute or so first thing in the morning. I like my coffee good yet quick.
Again if you're like me you're not rolling in dough and would rather spend your money on better beans. So I have one of those cheap blade grinders you can probably find all over the place. Not too expensive at all. Like omnidata said this is debatable and I'm sure some will be angry at me for my grinder choice. Whatever.
I'd recommend a cheap scale if you go with the press.
You may already have one, this is the one I have and it's 8 bucks. Does the job.
http://www.amazon.com/American-Weigh-AWS-1KG-BLK-Signature-Digital/dp/B002SC3LLS/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1391640174&sr=8-10
It helps you keep a consistent usage of beans every time and takes out all the guess work.
I start with ~30 g of beans to a 1/2 liter of water. Truth be told I rarely am 100% accurate in how much water I use, although my kettle has clearly marked 1/4 liter increments so this is possible to do.
This scales to ~60 g of beans for a 1 liter french press and is not a bad starting point.
So grind em up however and throw em in your press..
You want to keep your water at around 195 F to 205 F. You can measure temp with a cheap thermometer, but it really depends how serious you want to be. (Keeping in mind the temperature will be dropping while you're measuring and pouring, making this a slightly less than precise process at times.)
As a beginner I would go with the simple wait a moment following the boil, then pour. I used to pour very close to straight off the boil, but more recently bought a kettle that will heat to 200 F and stop. If you do a regular boil, don't wait too long. It will drop from 212 F quickly.
From thereon I start a countdown from 4 minutes, pour the water over the beans, immediately stir a bunch with a wooden chopstick, and put the press top on.
Four minutes later I press and immediately pour all the contents into my cup. Good shit.
