First macbook, some questions

[Ryvius819]

I will be buying my first macbook within a few days, and I got a few questions:

1) What kind of common physical defects of the new macbook should I look out for?
2) For those who tried the SL beta, does the 9400M provide good enough power for the new functions?
3) What program should I install to keep regular maintainance for the macbook (battery, fan/heat, etc)?
4) Do I really not need any anti-virus/firewall at all even if I download a lot and use it for online purchases?

[King Luis]

1) What kind of common physical defects of the new macbook should I look out for?
screen quality and discolouration, battery and hdd hanging, slanted keys.

2) For those who tried the SL beta, does the 9400M provide good enough power for the new functions?
don't know.

3) What program should I install to keep regular maintainance for the macbook (battery, fan/heat, etc)?
i have istat loaded as a widget. as for maintenance, don't know. its more of just monitoring.

4) Do I really not need any anti-virus/firewall at all even if I download a lot and use it for online purchases?
i'm not running any firewall or anti-virus for about 9 months now...not a problem. but if i was going to install an anti-virus, avast is free and great.

[timestoby]

im new to macs aswell and i dont have any anitvirus etc and i download torrents and use rapidshare. for maintenace get onyx and istat to monitor ur cpu usage etc.

[MPHL]

Love your mac...It's like a new baby

[MPHL]

download SMC fan control as well...istat works well too

[Vulcan]

I will be buying my first macbook within a few days, and I got a few questions:

1) What kind of common physical defects of the new macbook should I look out for?
2) For those who tried the SL beta, does the 9400M provide good enough power for the new functions?
3) What program should I install to keep regular maintainance for the macbook (battery, fan/heat, etc)?
4) Do I really not need any anti-virus/firewall at all even if I download a lot and use it for online purchases?

1.) Dead pixels mainly. If something seems off, it probably is.
2.) No idea
3.) Use the programs posted above
4.) I find them pointless, it's rare for a Mac to get a virus

[dckj95]

as an answer to question 4, no.

for a mac to get a virus is like striking a lottery. anyway if a mac does get a virus, its simple. just bring it down to a genius and they'll get it fixed.

dont waste your precious money on a mac antivirus cuz you most probably wont need ever in ur mb's lifetime.