Sandisk Extreme IIIs are great. Granted the 8gig cards are a bit pricier. It really depends on what format he shoots in. If he shoots strictly in jpeg then a 4 gig will give him loads of room.
I love my exIII. Wicked fast.. If you're shooting raws, you're going to need a big card. If you're shooting JPGs, you don't need the massive cards. Most people starting off are not going to fill a 4GB card in one session between visits to a computer, unless you're wasting shots like a madman and just plan on weeding the bads out later.