Introduction
Remove the lower case to access most of your MacBook Pro's internals.
Tools
Parts
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Remove the following ten screws securing the lower case to the upper case:
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Three 13.5 mm (14.1 mm) Phillips screws.
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Seven 3 mm Phillips screws.
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Using both hands, lift the lower case near the vent to pop it off two clips securing it to the upper case.
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Remove the lower case and set it aside.
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Conclusion
To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
One comment
When replacing the lower case, be sure to re-seat the clips that popped when removing it. There are two, located near the edge of the battery and the motherboard. Apply firm pressure over these spots until the clips click again, before replacing the screws.
Step 1 (technically step 9 - replacing the base plate) Apparently one of my screws was a micron or two smaller than the others. This screw belongs to the hole above the optical drive, which is also apparently a couple of microns smaller than the others. It took seven attempts to figure which screw had originally been in that hole; all the other screws were too large, but fitted perfectly everywhere else.
Bizarre much?
Will -
It might be a matter of how the screws are driven in, and not that they're slightly different sizes. When I reassembled my MacBook, a couple of the screws, including the one over the optical drive you mention, were hard to drive in and jutted up a little bit instead of sitting entirely flush. Swapping screws didn't help. The solution was to unscrew them and drive them in at a bit of an angle - perpendicular to the slightly curved surface of the back plate where the screw holes were, instead of fully vertical with respect to the ground the Macbook is sitting on. Doing it that way, the screws were easier to drive in and they all ended up flush in their holes. Didn't matter which screws they were. (I swapped a few around just to check after reading this.)
Andrew Janke -
I had no such screw issues. Either there are differences in manufacturing lots or I just got incredibly lucky during reassembly!
xtophr -