Use your fingers to push both battery release tabs away from the battery and lift the battery out of the computer.

Remove the four identical Phillips screws from the memory door.

Lift the memory door up enough to get a grip on it, and slide it toward you, pulling it away from the casing.

Remove the three Phillips screws in the battery compartment near the latch. Apple was nice enough to tilt these screws at a slight angle to make them easier to remove.

Remove the following six screws:

• Two T6 Torx screws on either side of the RAM slot.
• Four Phillips screws along the hinge.

Remove the four Phillips screws on the port side of the computer.

Rotate the computer 90 degrees and remove the two Phillips screws from the rear of the computer.

Rotate the computer 90 degrees again and remove the four Phillips screws from the side of the computer.

Do not yank the upper case off quickly. The case is attached to the logic board via a ribbon cable.

Lift up the back of the case and work your fingers along the sides, freeing the case as you go. Once you have freed the sides, you may need to rock the case up and down to free the front of the upper case.

Disconnect the trackpad and keyboard ribbon cable from the logic board.

Remove the upper case.

Disconnect the two antenna cables attached to the AirPort Extreme card.

The cable with the gray shielding attaches to the left side connector, while the cable with the white shielding attaches to the right side.

For the A1261 model, The cable with the black shielding attaches to the left side connector, while the cable with the blue shielding attaches to the right side.

If you have a MacBook Pro 17" Model A1229 or A1212, there are three antenna cables attached to the AirPort Extreme card instead of two.

Remove the single black T6 Torx screw from the top right corner of the AirPort Extreme card.

Lift the AirPort Extreme card up and slide it out of its connector.

Remove the two silver T6 Torx screws from the top left and bottom right corners of the left speaker assembly.

The magnet in the MagSafe connector may pull the upper screw towards it after the screw has been freed.

Lift up on the left speaker assembly and rotate it slightly. It is not possible to entirely remove the speaker yet, as it is still connected to the left I/O board beneath.

Disconnect the two cables securing the left speaker to the I/O board.

Lift the left speaker out of the upper case.

Disconnect the hard drive ribbon cable and the left I/O board ribbon cable from the logic board.

Disconnect the right speaker connector from the left I/O board.

Remove the two silver T6 Torx screws securing the gray metal retaining bracket to the right side of the hard drive.

Lift the gray metal retaining bracket out of the computer.

Remove the four black T6 Torx screws securing the left I/O board to the lower case.

Disconnect the large power connector from the left I/O board.

Move the orange hard drive ribbon out of the way with one hand. Use your other hand to lift up the right side of the left I/O board and slide it out of the computer.

Peel up the L-shaped piece of black tape on the I/O board to reveal the two silver Phillips screws beneath.