Acoustic electric guitars?

[kanuck]

yeah a lot of people have stated above. whenever you can play with it miced. Playing the acoustic plugged in is always a compromise for live settings. But built in acoustic-electric systems are usually better than under the string pickups. Because under the string pickups are usually magnetic pickups. The thing about magnetic pickups are that they're the exact same as electric guitars. You'll still get the character of an acoustic but it won't sound as great.

mic> pickup system> soundhole pickup

[UKRuss]

I usually record both the mic'd sound and the DI and blend them to taste, best of both worlds.

[Mister Natural]

General rule of thumb is that the pick ups are for stage and you use a mic for recording

^ this

I use a cheap Yamaha A/E for my stage guitar where the sonic quality is always just a suggestion of what my studio(nice) acoustic sounds like. I'd never take that rare & delicate instrument on stage

[YILA]

if your buying a budget acoustic guitar, don't get an electric version. Spend your money on wood and install a pickup later when you've saved some more money, or if it's for the studio, buy a microphone instead.