My brother in law is considering getting this game (if his computer will play it) when he does since he is new to MMO's I was going to help him by rolling a new alt and 'group up' with him. My question is if he chose for example Jedi Knight class could I pick Jedi Consular and follow him on his class quests (even through the red barriers to help with bosses he will be F2P if that makes a difference) Is there any options in preferences that need changing or can he share the class quest with me to allow me to follow him everwhere.

Yeah the level at which you get your lightsaber will vary depending on how many of the side quests and bonus quests they do, to me I was closer to 11 before I left as I tried to do everything and give me a slight advantage on the next planet (I try to do the same to every planet).

You don't even have to wait that long, there's a orange techblade available from the Courasant commendations vender which will take you all the way through. its the Prototype Battle Techblade and I think it was about 14 commendations.

I am currently rolling a level 26 trooper with Armormech, Scavenging and Underworld Trading. From what I have read I beleive I should be able to get a schematic for Tempered Laminoid sets (Chest, Head and legs) through UT. I have sent companions on rank 2 UT quests a fair few times but have not come accross any of these schematics as yet, are these obtained on a random basis or do I need to satisfy other criteria (e.g. does my armormech skill need to be over a certain level etc).

I though I was doing well by finishing Taris at about 2/3 levels over the planet level and doing about the same on the next one (I thought I did all of the quests available minus some of the Heroic quests which I could not find a group for so I must have missed some or maybe not grinded enough)

Dont forget that you can repeat all Heroic quests and Space combat once a day which should help especially if they have bonus sections as well.