I've heard the older 10/22s are better than the new ones. I had a new one which I got rid of because it was a jam-o-matic. i've heard a lot about the new ones needing new extractors and maybe some other stuff to make it reliable like the marlin. Then you're still missing some features the marlin has which require more add-ons. Oh, and it's not as accurate as the marlin either which will require again more add-ons. This puts it WAAAY out of his price range.
The marlins have sling swivel studs, thicker barrels, more accurate out of the box, last shot hold open, choice of magazine style, better balanced (esp mod 60) and they're more reliable and less picky with ammo out of the box. Oh, and they cost about $80 less and don't require any accessories to make them work.
These marlins have sold about 11 million units. The 10/22 has sold about 5 million. While a lot of tinkerers are fans of the 10/22 it's by no means the most popular .22 semi nor is the most reliable or accurate. It's not even best value for money. The one thing it does do better than anyone else is serve as a platform to upgrade. That's it.