maccentric

I have a 2014 13" Macbook Air that needs a new mobo, and it appears that the 2013 and 2015 motherboards might be...

This likely indicates a graphics chip failure and need for a new motherboard. Very common in the 2011 Macbook Pro series, but apparently also affects some retina display models too. Repair extension from Apple https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/ Sadly they no longer repair the 2011’s.

It is not a total reboot, it just turns on the machine. That said, unplugging the battery and the power for a bit (30 mins?) should accomplish an SMC reset.

The Accepted Answer refers to a post which replaces the optical drive with an SSD so that the iMac has both an SSD and HDD. To answer your question, there is no 3.5" SSD drive form factor. What you want is a 2.5" SATA SSD, which you will place in a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter. Because of the length of the cables, you want one that won't just hold the drive in place but puts the connections where they belong, such as the Icy Dock EzConvert.

Good catch, looks like I misread the original post. I was responding to the sentence "In order to put a SSD into an iMac that isn't a 27" or a 2011 21.5" then you need a optibay." This is true only if you wish to retain the original HDD, which was the case, but as I said, I misread the somewhat awkwardly worded original post. That said, prices for 512GB SSDs are getting near $200 these days and will continue to fall. Considering the speed increase and reliabilty of SSDs vs HDDs, I am finding it harder to justify the cost savings of HDDs lately.

The top case is a bit different as well. The are screw holes for the subwoofer on the 2010 which the earlier model lacks, and the bluetooth antennae on the 2010 has a piece of metal that looks like it attaches to the frame (glued?). The older model has a thin black plastic material covering that area (which appears to be cut away on the newer one, but I couldn't find any info on removing it and didn't want to mess it up so I left it in place. HTH someone.

Where is a good spot to start separating the bottom? I can’t seem to find anywhere to get into the seam.

Any 2.5” SATA drive should work, but you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t get an SSD. One with a dram controller, preferably. They are a bit over $100 for 1TB right now (Jan 2020).

I wish mine were all 1.4mm. Mine came with 4 different screw lengths. Ugh.

I believe that is a Torx 7 security screw.

Anyone know what the empty socket between steps 25 and 26 is for?

Nope, there’s actually 3 different lengths on the bottom screws.

More info on this step. To disconnect the battery, see here: Reemplazo de la batería del MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar 2017

As for order, I would leave these screws for last, when you have everything else undone and are ready to swap the displays.

The screws on the hinge caps are T-4, not P3. You could easily strip these by using a P3.

Due to the auto start features of this machine, I certainly would. Especially if you can’t run the terminal command to prevent auto start. Only takes a minute. Reemplazo de la batería del MacBook Pro 13" Touch Bar 2017

These are T-4 screws, 2 on either side.

Screws are T-4