Personally I would look for better, at 1100 the bike is a rip-off in my view. I've got one claris equipped bike in the house, its for my 7yo as it was clearanced for 150.00 and I could justify that price for the group. From my experience Claris doesn't maintain a tune well and is annoying to adjust, the quality feels cheap and the indexing isn't crisp. Which is amazing since the previous 8sp bike I bought was over 20 years prior and it still works better then new Claris.
For 1200 Cannondale has offered both a gravel and cross bike with 10sp Tiagra which is the lowest grade of components I like, actually find myself impressed with the group and between the wife and I we have 3 tiagra 4700 series equipped bikes. Besides C-dale, Trek and Giant both have gravel bikes in the same 1150-1200 range with Tiagra. You might have to call around but the quality difference between Claris and Tiagra is significant and for 1100 I'd at least expect Sora which I haven't dealt with in a couple generations so I can't speak to the current quality. I'd spend some time looking for better or waiting a month for something else.
As to cable disc brakes, only complaint I can really think of with them is that they're more prone to squeaking or squealing then hydraulic but I find the stopping power fine. All three of the Tiagra equipped bikes in my house have some variation or another of cable discs and they're good. Only concern I've ever had with cable was for the kids, and while I'm sure cable was fine their ability to stop with a finger on a MTB trail was better. Which is the other up side to cable disc, you can always upgrade easily. Just converted my tandem to disc and used a TRP hy/rd brake set; cable actuated hydraulic brakes and the work great. Juin Tech makes another version I'll be buying for the wife's cross bike to get rid of the noise.