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.

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 the left speaker assembly with one hand and deroute the inverter cable from the top right corner of the speaker assembly.

Disconnect the pink and black left speaker assembly cable from the left I/O board. Be sure to pull only on the white connector and not on the speaker wires.

Disconnect the microphone cable connector from the left I/O board.

Remove the left speaker/microphone assembly from the lower case.

Disconnect the iSight, inverter, and left fan cables from the left side of the logic board.

If you have a MacBook Pro 17" Model A1229, the iSight, inverter, and left fan cables have different composures and locations.

Peel up the iSight and inverter cables which are attached with a mild adhesive above the left fan.

Remove the two silver T6 Torx screws securing the left fan to the lower case.