Your best bet would be to stick to some of the brands which have been around for years. Another manufacturer which I have found to be pretty reputable is Yamaha. I had a Yamaha acoustic and a Yamaha electric. both were very servicable guitars and both cost under $250.00 Even with the lower price, Yahama still put out a quality made product that had decent sound and stayed in tune relatively well. Plus they have been around for many years.

If you are looking for a good starter acoustic guitar, you should check out Ovation Guitars. Their lower end models could run around $250.00 - $350.00, but they are a little more player friendly than some of the other acoustics and they are a pretty reputable company. Some people really like their guitars, but most acoustic guitar purists or fingerstyle players, tend not to like them.

If you are looking for a cheap amplifier, The Pignose amplifier has been around for a long time and you should be able to get a new one for under $100.00. (Any store selling it for more is not a store you want to deal with.) Some people swear by them and use them to play gigs in small venues. I know folk players as well as hard rock players who use them regularly. The drawback is that they are pretty basic and don't have reverb, which is important to some players.

As for whether you should buy an acoustic or an electric, I think that will depend on the type of music you play and how much money you can afford to spend. Keep in mind, an acoustic will be physically harder to play than an electric, which could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. Acoustics, especially the ones in the lower price range, tend to have a higher action than the pricier acoustic guitars and acoustics use higher gauge strings than electrics. That makes them a little tougher to play especially when you are starting out.