what is the best beginners acoustic guitar?  

The Applause line of guitars by Ovation are good to learn on. They sound great, they have a narrow neck and you can adjust the action really close to the fret bars. They start around $200 for a basic model and all of them come with electric pickups built in. You can play them straight without amplification or plug into a backstage amp and really hear how your chords are coming out. The best part is that it's an instrument that grows with your skills. You won't necessarily need to trade up when you get to be good at playing it. They're very durable and they hold their tune well.

Yamaha makes great acoustic and electric-acoustics. you always get more than you pay for. i'm not even a beginner, and i just picked up a great electric-acoustic for 300 the other day. it has been great so far, and all there hybrids have great pre-amps