Hello there,
There are benefits to learning on an acoustic. Most of all, you focus on learning how to play the guitar before you start dealing with electronic controls, amplifier controls and effects pedals. However, I could never recommend someone buy an acoustic only to have to buy an electric as soon as they learn how to play. Bottom line is you can learn to play on either the acoustic or electric guitar. If your interest is strictly in the electric guitar, you may as well start with one.
Yamaha makes decent beginner level acoustic guitars. You will be in the upper end of your budget.
Electric guitar recommendations: Any, but buy your amp first. Most beginners under estimate the importance of the amp and speakers in how they sound. They blow their budget on getting the best guitar they can and then buy some crappy little amp. Surprise. They do not get a good sound and want to start upgrading parts on the guitar. A great guitar played through a lousy amp/lousy speaker will sound lousy. A mediocre guitar played through a good amp/good speaker will sound decent. Buy a good amp first. Then with what ever is left of your budget, buy the best guitar you can. Buying a used guitar is a good idea. It stretches your money. Used guitars sell for much less than the new price.
Beginner amps: The Fender Mustang and the Peavey Vypyr are good choices. Those are digital modeling amps that can simulate the sound of many classic traditional amps. They are versatile. They have several built in effects which saves you the cost of buying separate effects pedals for the basic, commonly used effects. The Line 6 Spider is a similar amp. I never cared for the Spider, and preferred the Mustang and Vypyr. But any of the 3 is a good choice.
Electric guitar: Forget about how the guitar looks. Focus on how the guitar feels in your hands. Playing comfort and playability is far more important than cosmetics. Two factors to pay attention to. 1) Scale length. The scale length is the distance from the nut to the saddle. That determining the spacing of the frets. A Fender Strat or Tele has a 25 1/2 inch scale length. A Gibson Les Paul has a 24 3/4 inch scale length. So the frets on the Fender will be slightly farther apart than on the Gibson. (Jackson Charvel has mostly 25 1/2 scale length.) Either of those scale lengths are all right for most players. If you have smaller hands, a 24 inch scale length (like the Fender Mustang) may be easier for you to play. 2) Bridge type. Two basics types of bridges fixed and tremolo. If you want a whammy bar for your music, you need a guitar with a tremolo bridge. If you do not want a whammy bar, you can go with a fixed bridge model. The Strat and Strat copies have a tremolo bridge. Within your budget range, there will not be a great deal of difference in quality (as long as to stick to a known brand name). Some lesser known brands can be fine, but they can also be crap. You need to be able to tell the difference. As a beginner you won't know how to judge.
With the electric guitar you will need to buy an instrument cable to connect it to the amp. With either the acoustic or electric you will want to get a strap (to hold the guitar so you can play standing) and picks. Buy an extra set of strings (the same size as is on the guitar you get). Strings break. Beginners break them often. Important: buy an electronic tuner. Those make life much easier.
Then start looking for lessons. Forget that crap about I will teach myself. If you are serious about learning to play, get some real lessons from a qualified instructor. That will get you started on the right foot.
Later,
Norm