What does he need? Does he want to use decorative stitches or straight sticking? My first thought was getting a used refurbished Singer from the 40's or 50's. I love my 1950 15-91. It was the one I learned to sew on and I made most of my clothes on it when I was in Jr. and Sr. High.
They are total work horses and easy to take care of. Not to mention, you can find them for a fairly good price.
My sister did buy the Brother sewing machine from Costco about 20 years ago - it was about $150.00 then and is still going strong today.