I updated from EA3 to EA4 a few years ago.
It wasn't difficult and I had no issues.
As for a user friendly introduction.
EA allows you to make changes to Apache and PHP.
It allows you to add or take away different PHP versions, modules and security features.
However, personally, I feel that's about as friendly as it gets.
There are tons of different PHP modules to choose from, knowing exactly what each one does would take forever to learn.
I could only suggest to go with a standard build.
And If you have time to tweak it, do a bit of research and experiment before going live.
What works for some, might not work for others.