My favorite machine is my featherweight which I use for just about everything.
The one I gave my daughter who is a novice sewer is the inexpensive Brother machine that is under $100 at Walmart. I have had several of these thru the years and have passed them on to various friends and family who want a machine.
My sons search the yard sales for machines and last week one of them found a nice Montgomery Ward machine (that weighs a ton) with a 1984 date on the serial plate for $2! It seems to work just fine. The lady said it had some bobbin tension problems, but I think that is probably because there are three different style bobbins in the storage section and I'm sure only one is going to be right for it. They said they had not yet tried out any of the decorative stitches on it.
Good luck in your search!