Disconnecting the hard drive.

To replace the hard drive, you'll need a T6 Torx screwdriver to transfer the hard drive mounting screws to the new drive.

The bottom panel is attached by 8 screws:

• One 3 mm Phillips in the top left corner.
• Four 3.5 mm Phillips along the bottom.
• Three 13.8 mm Phillips along the top.

Removing the bottom panel provides access to the RAM, optical drive, display hinge, fan, and logic board.

It looks like the only really hard part to replace will be the upper case and keyboard.

Removing the RAM

2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM are included. Apple will upgrade the RAM to 4GB for an extra $150.

Apple claims this machine maxes out at 4GB RAM, but the Montevina chipset appears to support up to 8GB.

Shameless plug: You can upgrade your existing MacBook or MacBook Pro to 4 GB. We'll also be offering the RAM for the new Unibody machines in the near future.

We've now exhausted the installation instructions Apple printed on the back of the battery cover.

Disconnecting the subwoofer and optical drive cables.

The optical drive is held in by the following 4 screws:

• Three 2.5 mm Phillips.
• One 3.7 mm Phillips.

Apple gives the following specification: 8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW).

The optical drive, now SATA.

The optical drive shows a manufacture date of October 2008. That drive sure got from the factory to us fast!

Removing the logic board.

This may be the most beautiful laptop we've disassembled. Apple has a right to be proud of their engineers and manufacturing team.