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First a better guitar will not make you a better player if your aren’t going put in an honest effort to improve.
I play D’ardarrio XL string – 12/53 and 13/56 usually tuned down. i can afford them and they fit my needs. Every guitar player develops their own personal string choice. Cheap strings don’t hold their tone very long. If that is all you can afford then expect to change strings quite often to keep a good tone.
When 1st starting out 10’s were fine. As you start to develop your chops you will probably start playing a heaver gauge string as you will learn you can pick with more “character” to your tone with them.
OK Story time. When I bought my 1st grand daughter a guitar, in her junior high school year, I tried out all of the inexpensive guitars in the guitar Store. To my surprise I kept coming back to one of the cheapest guitars offered because it has, to my ears, the best tone for a starter guitar. The action was good and the tone was as good as guitars way more expensive. I finally bought it for her and she loved it for many years.
The point being buying a guitar is it has to fit you. Before you go to a music store to purchase another guitar learn to play one simple 3 chord song. Doesn’t matter what the song is just something you can kind of play for at least 1 verse. then you have something to compare different sounds coming from the instruments you are going to try out. Try to not be embarrassed by your lack of skill as people all around you are blowing your mind with their guitar picking. Just explain you are new to this and trying to find a first guitar that you feel comfortable with. Most real players will offer you all kinds of advise but take it with a grain of salt as you are your own individual and need to pleae you, not anyone else with this guitar choice.
Research online for different “best guitars” in your price range. If you can play 1 verse in a song or a lick such as Tuesday’s “Gone to long” lesson challenge you can repeat that over on all of the guitars you try out and you will find a guitar that grabs your ear and heart. Do not buy on your first day of checking. Salemen might try to pressure you but do not make any commitment until you have thought about it for awhile. This could be a lifetime commitment. It is important to you if you are really going to learn to play guitar.
I have huge expensive dreadnoughts, some simple parlor and medium folk style guitars. They all have a different sound and I will rotate between most of the smaller and folk size guitars on a weekly or sometimes a daily basis. I haven’t touched a large bodies guitar in a long time, except for my Gibson 200 that is just a magical guitar but isn’t as comfortable as the smaller bodies.
All guitar woods sound different also. Guitars made with all solid wood will age and over time and develop there unique sound.
Ply body wood guitars will sound the same 5 years from now as they do today. Ply bodied guitar with a solid top will develop a little bit of character but not like a solid wood body guitar. I have a Taylor mini that is a solid top guitar/ply body guitar and does sound good but the sound has not evolved much from the day I bought it.
Again research online “best acoustic Guitars” online in your price range and see if you can find something that will help you learn to play and is also fun and easy to play.