FileVault is not good

If you're thinking about enabling FileVault feature of the Mac OS X to secure the data on your laptop - don't. Instead, create an encrypted disk image and store your important files there. I had been using FileVault for over a year and my experience was rapidly deteriorating lately. Even though FileVault never caused any disasters or a loss of my data, I decided to turn it off a couple of weeks ago and my life is better already! My good old G4 PowerBook is significantly more responsive, it wakes up instantly and reliably (no more looking at the spinning rainbow of death), certain apps no longer "forget" that they are default providers of their services, etc. So, use encrypted disk image to store your important files, don't use FileVault. (And backup your data regularly, but more about this later.)