The right tool makes all of the difference!

You can see from the photo how much easier (and cleaner) it is to pop open an iBook with an Apple Black Stick Spudger (btw - that's one of our techs installing custom color covers on an iBook).  Apple techs use this tool to open iBook, Macbook, and Mac Mini cases without damaging or scratching the cases or components.

The tool is constructed from glass-filled, heat-resistant nylon plastic. It features a pointed tip on one end, a flat screwdriver-shaped blade on the other, and a notch to assist in hooking wires and leads.  The notch is also very useful for coaxing wires into place when re-closing the case.  Unlike the small blue and green tools with bent ends (which I highly recommend for opening iPods!), the long and straight shape of the Black Stick helps it work like a magic zipper for opening the case on iBooks, MacBooks, and Minis. 

General use of the tool:

Insert the flat end of the tool into the seam that separates the two halves you are trying to split.  Make sure to work patiently and keep the tool at a steep angle to the joint (see the picture above).  Slide the tool slowly along the seam and use a second spudger to hold the split open along particularly long seams.

A specific example (using spudgers to remove the bottom case on an iBook G4):

1. Remove the battery.
2. Use your thumbs or a spudger to gently push the rims of the lower case surrounding the battery compartment in (toward the empty compartment), nudging them past the tabs, and then lift up to free that corner of the lower case.
3. There is a slot on the wall of the battery compartment that locks the lower case into place on the frame. Use a spudger or small flathead screwdriver to pry out the slot's lower rim and pull up on the lower case to free the slot from the tabs holding it. 
   
4. Starting near the latch button, run a spudger along the seam between the lower case and upper case on the front of the computer to free the tabs locking the lower case. Pull up on the lower case and continue to use the spudger as necessary until you hear three distinct clicks (the clicks are made by the plastic tabs that hold the two halves together).
   
5. Continue to run the spudger around the front, right corner. There are two tabs on the port side of the computer, one near the front corner and one near the sound-out port. 
   
6. There are three tabs over the optical drive that must be released before the lower case can come off. Slide the spudger into the lower case above the optical drive and run it toward the back of the computer until you again hear three distinct clicks. 
   
7. Once the front and sides of the lower case are free, orient the computer so that the back is facing up.
   
8. Pull the lower case up and toward you until the back tabs pop free (lightly jiggle the case up and down if needed).

Members who purchase spudgers from us through eBay receive access to our on-line library of service manuals.  Our library currently covers all iBooks, most PowerBook G4s, early Mac Minis, MacBooks and early MacBook Pros.