battery and keyboard question

[Loxkun]

hello,

In a few days I'll be getting my Macbook White (yay !!^^). I bought it because my old laptop was defect. So I was wondering:

The sentences in bold are the essentials, the rest is actually some background information ^^

- how can I make sure my battery will be in good condition for a long time? I've had 2 laptops, I had to buy a new battery for both of them, the oldest one (the battery) somehow only lasted for 10 mins, when fully charged and the 2nd one, well it didn't charge at all.
I've heard friends say it's good to unplug the cable when fully charged -I always kept it charging- so can it really help?

- so I've had 2 laptops and since I use it for school a lot, well I type a lot. So eventually I could see where I hit my keyboard most, as there were 'stains' on it. I really like the keyboard of macs, so I want to keep it in a good condition. Is there a way to avoid those stains? (other than not typing a lot :P)
I assume you all know what I mean with those 'stains'? Else, I could post a picture :P)

Thanks in advance,
Loxkun

[iph0n3]

To get the best battery life I always fully charge it the first time then completely drain it until it wont even turn on. It is also bad to keep it plugged in when it already has a full charge. If you want to keep a computer on all the time I suggest a desktop. But as far as monitoring the health of your computers battery I suggest a dashboard widget called iStat Pro. As far as the "stains" all I have to suggest is washing your hands. I had purchased a Gel keyboard cover that I got at the apple store for around 25$ and i also had the palm rests because the palm rests seem to also get dirty