Which guitar is better Rock & Pop? Ibanez vs. ESP?

It really depends on the style of rock you're playing. I love ESP's but in this case the Ibanez will be better. Any ESP below the 400 series are not very good, so you generally have to spend $500+ for a good ESP. The Ibanez is not the best, but it's solid. However, Ibanez tremolo systems except the Edge Pro stink, so you might want to check and see if there's a non-tremolo model.