you can get a really nice p&s for less than 200 bucks. i'd suggest something with a decent optical zoom (10x or so) with 10MP-12MP sensor. you don't need an 18 or 20+ MP sensor to get good shots. look for canon powershot and panasonic lumix series, they both are pretty good. I'm not sure if Sony cybershots are better these days, the one I bought about 2 yrs back was crap - too much color saturation and shitty exposure metering.
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