Thinking of using FileVault. What benefits does it bring?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4790, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileVault

It makes your data inaccessible to someone who steals your computer.

It's always good, more when you have sensible files in the computer. FileVault encypts the whole hard drive and files has to be decrypted when you open them, so it may slow down your computer. However, note that, if you are a home user, you don't need FileVault

You are welcome

There will be a loss of I/O bandwidth as measured by benchmarks, probably not very noticeable in practice. Whether you need FileVault or not has nothing to do with whether you're a home user. It has to do with your need for data security.