MaximumPC 2006 04

52 MA XIMUMPC APRIL 2006

with the laptop. Otherwise, the bezel won’t

be fl ush with rest of the laptop. Not all slim

drives use the same bezel type, but fortu-

nately for us, ours did. To remove the bezel

from the stock Philips drive, fi rst open the

drive door using a bent paper clip.

Step 22: Unlock and Remove

the Bezel

Remove the bezel by pushing in on the

locking tabs with a paper clip. You’ll need

to push fairly hard to get the bezel to

release. Once the tabs are loosened, you

should be able to pop the bezel right off.

Step 23: Replace the Bezel on the

NEC Drive

Now you’ll need to remove the bezel from

the NEC drive and pop the new one into

place. You’ll need to follow the exact

same procedure to get that bezel off

(image a), then pop the one that matches

the notebook chassis onto the NEC drive

(image b).

Step 24: Insert the Optical Drive

The last step in our drive transplant

operation is to remove the metal arm that

locks the drive into the notebook. Simply

unscrew the single screw holding it in and

move it to the NEC drive. You’re ready

to slide the drive back into the machine.

Remember to reinstall the screw you

removed in Step 18.

You’re Done!

Install the battery, plug in the machine, and

fi re that baby up! Once you’ve ensured

that your machine is booting properly, and

that all the hardware seems to be working,

you can pop your Windows CD into the

drive and install Windows XP!

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2 3a

23 b

Continued from page 50 24

We chose the AOpen 1559 because it comes with the moderately powerful

GeForce Go 6600 graphics, but it also has the potential to upgrade to a faster

GPU down the road, thanks to its MXM I module. AOpen ships the notebook

with the module, which is a good thing because stand-alone modules are

nearly impossible to obtain. We’re going to show you how to remove and

upgrade the card on the off chance

there will be an upgrade path one day.

Step 1: Remove Heatsink/Fan

The GPU is near the memory

modules, so you’ll need to open

that compartment on the bot-

tom of the laptop. The GPU

is also cooled by a heat pipe,

which you’ll need to remove

before you continue. Unscrew

the single screw holding down

the heatsink.

Step 2: Slide the Fan Out

With the screw removed, slide

out the fan in the direction of the

GPU until the tab holding it down is clear. You can now move the

fan out of the way.

Step 3: Unscrew the Heat Pipe

Remove the heat pipe by remov-

ing the four screws clamping the

pipe to the MXM module.

Step 4: Behold the MXM!

You can now remove the MXM

Type I module by releasing the

clasps, tilting it up, and pulling it out. The mounting is very simi-

lar to the SO-DIMM and Mini PCI card—insert the card edge

into the slot at an angle and push

it in until it stops and then tilt the

card down. Will we one day get

a GeForce Go 7800 card in this

size that runs cool enough for

our heat pipe to manage? No

one knows, but we sure hope so.

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MXM Module Could Make Graphics Upgrades Easy

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