Looking for a specific laptop

I'm looking for a pretty good laptop that an older friend of mine could use while away at hotels and stuff to get online and check e-mail. Would he just need an ISP? or would the WiFi stuff work anywhere? im' confused about it, the laptop also needs a cd burner and needs to be pretty fast, not too fast, but an average everyday laptop, thanks!

a lot of hotels have wireless internet access. you might just have to pay a fee. i.e. like 10 bucks a day.

http://www.notebookreview.com/

well, most newer laptops will do pretty good with a good amount of ram.

i have had my laptop(in sig) for about 2 years. it came from the manufacturer with 256mb of ram, and i later added a stick of 512mb and there was a HUGE difference. i use mine as more of a desktop replacement than a laptop though, but battery life is pretty good.