Ok, Hands up, I'm a bit t'ick when it comes to e-mail/Internet connections etc whilst I'm on the hoof so I'm looking for advice guys.
Thinking of buying a laptop to take on my US holiday coming up shortly, most of the time I stay in a Hampton Inn which is part of the Hilton group, these all offer "Complimentary high-speed Internet access" in the rooms and wireless internet connections in the lobby/lounge.
So, if I take a laptop what do I need to get myself connected over there?
Cheers for any advice.

So long as your laptop has a wireless card fitted you should be OK. When you switch it on it will find the network and then you just login using the info that the hotel gives you, Id and password, and you will be away.

Right, a wireless card needed, but, IIRC there was a cable like the one you plug into your PC at home coming out of a table lamp, I assume this directly connects to the Hotel's network?

Possibly, some hotels will offer wireless internet, in which case you need a wireless card for your laptop - it may already have one built in. If its a "centrino" laptop then it does. If its not, look to see if there is one built in. If not, you can buy a card you plug into the laptop for about £10.

Alternatively some hotels may provide wired internet access, in which case you would use a cable to connect the computer, this cable will probably not be in the room, but available on request from reception. It would be like a phone cable, but with a slightly larger plug on the end.

Make sure it is a network cable and not a phone cable, otherwise you will be plugging in through your modem and will be charged at the cost of a hotel phone call, rather than free.

Wile some provide free internet access, many do not, but instead charge you so much per day. When you turn the laptop on, enable wireless networking, and it will auto connect to the nearest wireless network (open the wireless network settings and select "show available networks" if it picks up the wrong one)

Once connected, open your web browser. The web browser will either connect to the internet and display your home page, in which case you have free internet, or it will connect to a payment gateway where you will be instructed to buy credit.

If the page fails to load, under tools -> Internet Options, click connections, LAN Settings, then check "auto detect proxy settings" is enabled.

Basically...

Any laptop you buy is going to come with both 802.11b/g (wireless network) and ethernet (wired network). So you'll be good to go. Nae problems.

Ok, Ian Gav and Lee, thanks so far, out of these 2 what one would you choose -

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.200-0124.aspx

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.200-3601.aspx

As I said, I'm not really up to speed with laptops but I put some software onto the MT6220B model for a friends daughter and it was pretty neat, so it got me thinking, rather than buy more CF Cards for the hols I should maybe just buy a laptop and transfer all my pics onto there and I could keep in touch from the room rather than from the PC in the hotel lobby (which incidentally is free to use, unlike in most hotels I've been in here or Europe).
Now, one last question, if I bought the laptop wi-fi enabled, and with Windows Vista as the OS, and the first time I turned it on was over there, am I set for the Internet right there and then?

given your photography interest, I'd go for the one with the built-in card reader.

And yes - turn on the wireless and it will pick up whatever networks are available. Where you do so wo't have any permanent effect. Having said that, I haven't use Vista on a physical machine yet.

Purchased the Gateway MT6223B for £399 from Tesco, thanks all for the info/advice