It started out as a simple project: with the prospect that I'd be away from my desktop computer for a few weeks, I wanted to beef up my laptop's meager 256 megs of RAM. Having purchased my 12” PowerBook one release cycle before Apple boosted the RAM to the 512 megs it really should have had to begin with, it was long past time I embarked on opening up the case and upgrading. One thing was stopping me: I couldn't open it.
Perhaps I'm being a bit too dramatic; the case is quite easy to open. The problem is that you need the right tools to do so. In my previous laptop upgrade experiences with the Dell laptops I often service, I had always gotten away with using a rather generic Craftsman screwdriver to handle the job. Not one to follow the advice of manuals, I ignored Apple's advice to acquire a 00-size screwdriver and tried to do the same thing with the PowerBook. I quickly learned why this special recommendation had been mentioned: my small screwdriver was not able to get a good grip on the extra tiny screws Apple had used. On the other hand, a tiny screwdriver designed to repair glasses was not strong enough, nor graspable enough to provide the torque necessary to open the case.
The idea that four tiny little screws were going to defeat my upgrade ambitions for the day did not go over well in my head. Had it been a different machine, I likely would have rigged something up. However, the PowerBook escaped that fate by the nature of its stunning case; it clearly wasn't worth damaging the refined elegance of my industrial designed beauty to prove I was able to upgrade without following the manual.
When I first read the requirement for that special screwdriver I wondered where exactly I was going to locate one. This isn't the kind of thing the Home Depot carries. Then I recalled that RadTech, the makers of the excellent ScreensavRz screen protector/cleaning cloth and other great products I've looked at before, offered just such a screwdriver. I also recalled they offered a nylon pry-tool, another instrument Apple says you need during the upgrade procedure which I was hoping to get away without. However, I was determined not to be defeated in my ambitions two separate times, so I put my order in for both products, which arrived promptly one business day after I placed the order.
While it might seem hard to get excited about a screwdriver, I must say this one was a pleasure to receive. It has an ergonomic shape, a soft plastic that is easy to grip, and a tip dipped in a slightly rough material to help make it grip the screws. All of these things combined to make it a snap to defeat those screws and move to my goal of boosting the RAM.
In my case, the RAM door was happily to oblige my desire at this point, and the foam insulation underneath its edges gave enough spring that it came off without requiring the aid of the nylon pry tool. I wouldn't necessarily count on that being the case during every upgrade, though, and the nifty design of the pry tool, which is shaped like a flathead screwdriver on one end and a PDA stylus on the other, can most certainly be used in numerous other computer repair projects.
This isn't the first time a RadTech product has solved one of my vexing computer problems, and I'm sure it won't be the last. For now, I'm just happy to have my PowerBook humming along with a total of 768 megs of RAM. (RadTech, #00 Precision Philips Screwdriver and Nylon Non-Marking Pry Tool, $6.75 and $7.00, respectively.)