Rhossydd
Established Member
You need to careful about such generalisations to a beginner.As James said, please do not buy one of those Clarke etc (lumberjack, vevor etc) lathes with 2 square bars for a bed. They really are rubbish.
It's true that there are a lot of dirt cheap generic Chinese lathes with square tube bars that are best recycled into tin cans.
However there are some fantastic old British built lathes with solid square bars that are absolute bargains secondhand. The Myford Mystro referenced above is excellent, also the Tyme Avon and Cub are great lathes that change hands now for less than a round of drinks.