If you go acoustic in the start you'll definately thank yourself (and everyone who recommended it! ) later. makes playing an electric a fucking breeze.
for a beginners electric (if you still want electric anyway) I'd go something cheap like a Jackson JS1 or maybe an Ibanez RG. Of course this also depends on the style of music you plan on playing (they're mostly metal/hard rock guitars), but these two guitars are much better than most of that Squier or other "strat copy" bullshit out there