Good acoustic guitar to buy?

Hey, iv been playing guitar for a few years and just recently my dad let my borrow his acoustic guitar. its a martin, probably like 10 years old..in great condition though. however i find it sooooo hard to play that my fingers are hurting about 15 minutes of playing it [remember iv been playing electric guitar for years] and whenever i play the strings get a nasty unclean rattling sound. and the strings are like a centimeter above the fretboard which makes them hard to press. i was wondering are all acoustic guitars like this? if there are any good acoustic guitars i could by with very good string action and no rattleing please let me know! thanks ! :)