My 4GB RAM upgrade kit arrived from OWC today! A pair of 2GB DDR3 SO-DIMMs to replace the include pair of 1GB sticks, taking the total RAM from 2GB to 4GB.
To start with, the machine had to be disassembled partly. You need to remove the battery and it’s cover from the lower part of the case. This is pretty simple, there is just a single lever that works locking bar with latches and magnets along it’s length that hold the cover and battery in place. Much like the lever on the Mac Pro that locks/unlocks the side panel, drive sleds, and optical drive carrier. After that, there are 8 screws around the perimeter of the baseplate, 4 small ones, 3 long ones, and 1 medium sized one. They are very small, and easy to lose, but fortunately they are also pretty hard to mix up. Once they are all out, the main baseplate pries off. It actually requires some bit of force. Clouds of dust popped out as I removed each latch. Here’s the cover, with it’s dusty inside facing up:
Once that is free, the bottom of the motherboard is exposed, as are the RAM slots, fans, heatsink fins, and the optical drive. The whole thing is very pretty looking inside. Everything is very neat and tidy, and well laid out:
Yes, that is dust caked around the fan. The fans are tiny, looks like 45mm by my measurement. Can’t tell the height too easily.
A closeup of the cooler:
After taking a can of air to the fans and heatsink fins (they are covered by tape at the side facing you, so you have to blast them from the top)…I….well, marvled at the amount of dust. There seemed to be an especially high amount inside the fan shroud against the side of the heatsink, and blowing in the heatsink with the can made huge clumps fly out from around the fan blades. Ok, with the dust clear, I unlatched the RAM and pulled it out:
New is at the top, with the extra chips on it.
Finally, job done. Fans are clean, new RAM seated and installed.
A slightly more detailed version…
Even more detail…
