Shame. There are a few issues with audio, some I've witnessed, others from reading forums for a few months.
- The external adapter is not a standard size. Some headphones do not fit correctly, leading to sound cutting out. Mechanical fault.
- Sometimes the internal 'switch' that swaps between analog audio and digital gets stuck to digital on. Mechanical fault.
- Sometimes the internal 'switch' that swaps between analog audio and digital, constantly flips between the two modes. This causes some insane kernel issue and results in terrible lag and a huge increase in heat. Mechanical and Software fault.
- The audio chip seems to be pretty susceptible to interference. As such you get constant white noise through headphones. You can work around this with adding impedance but this shouldn't be necessary. Mechanical fault. Possible software workarounds.
- The audio chip has powersave mode enabled all the time. This results in the audio turning on and off constantly. This results in pops and clicks. Possible software workarounds.
I need a laptop too. I would like to purchase a Mac as my others have been OK. Sadly there seems to be a few dodgy issues with the Unibodies. For some anal folk is not acceptable given the cost of these things.
That final issue got me thinking though. If it was Linux you could rectify that with a script or even just unloading some module.