I haven't bought a new guitar recently but I've played Takemine and liked it. I'm partial to Guild guitars, the big ones have a full, rich sound. Fender took over the company in '95 and I like what Guild was doing before, Fender makes good guitars but I feel like Guild's were a little less mass-produced before Fender.
Hopefully this post will trigger some more input. You should be able to find a nice guitar in that price range.