Problems with Mac laptops, older and newer

You may have heard about the Apple laptop-battery recall, which follows a similar Dell recall.

Apple has taken pains to emphasize this recall doesn't affect it's newer MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops, but that doesn't mean these are without problems. 

First there was that weird staining or discoloration problem with white MacBooks. Now some MacBooks appear to be spontanously shutting down. 

One of my co-workers recently bought a MacBook. At first he was delighted: 

A zippy machine. The Photo Booth feature freaks me out.  Makes my iMac seem frustratingly slow....

But then came the problem:

MacBook plagued by sudden shutdowns. Appears to be an issue that's generating widespread Web chatter. My first taste of the uselessness of Apple support....

Another Mac user has chronicled his own, similar MacBook saga.

I asked Apple spokesman Steve Dowling (who got back to me promptly on the battery recall) about the shutdown problems. He declined to comment on that (and on the discoloration issue) and said someone else at Apple would get back to me. No one ever did.

Update: Apple finally did get back to me. No comment yet on the shutdown problem, but it confirms it is taking care of MacBook users who have the discoloration problem.