Original specs:
Mid 2006 production
13.3" LED backlit 1280x800
2GB ram
120GB HDD w/ fall sensor
Biometric
DVD burner
Cingular EDGE aircard w/ integrated antenna
Intel Core Duo T2500 (2GHz, like a dual Pentium M)
Dual graphics (Intel GMA950 or NVidia GeForce Go 7400)
Bluetooth
Firewire port
ExpressCard/34 slot
PCMCIA slot
Memorystick Duo card reader (thanks for nothing, Sony)
56k modem
Webcam
Trusted Platform Module
XP or Vista (this one shipped with XP)
3.75 lbs
Original MSRP ~$2900
Actually, I have three pics from that which I took with my old HTC Touch Pro (auto-focus on a phone in 2008 was pretty fancy).
Found this in an old e-mail in July 2009:
This was the original surgery which put the laptop back into service (at 3 years old).Looks like someone dropped it while plugged in and it cracked the power plug receptacle, which caused it to push in when you tried to plug it in. And the person who took it apart stopped when it got too hard, so it sat, unused, with this damage for...probably quite a while. So I used a combination of plastic welder epoxy and hot glue. That thing is in there. But then I had a shorting out problem with sparks and everything when I put it back together (long story). Finally got that resolved, too, with the strategic application of more hot glue.
Since then I've upgraded the specs over the years:
4GB ram (3GB usable due to both chipset and 32-bit OS)
240GB Intel 520 SSD
Intel Core 2 Duo T7600
Windows 8.1 32-bit
The CPU and RAM are very easy to access (from the bottom cover). The hard drive requires removing the keyboard (1 screw and some spring lock tabs) and wrist rest/trackpad (3 screws underneath, then another 3 with the keyboard removed) but even that isn't that bad.
I've also amassed 3 power supplies and a sweet port replicator (which has gigabit Ethernet and DVI output, and the laptop natively has neither).
The most recent ordeal? It looked like it had fallen. I'm not sure what happened. And I don't have a pic. But next to the left hinge, the plastic chassis had separated at the corner leaving a gap. I couldn't snap it back, either. To get to the rear left corner of the chassis, I had to strip it clear down, including the motherboard. The surgery above did not require motherboard removal. I've never gone this far captain. I have just a few pics to share.
This is the corner that had come apart. It is supposed to snap together but a tiny plastic piece had broken. Amazingly I did find it, but only after the laptop was all together. I may have tried super glue. The real problem was I couldn't get the two ports on the left to fit back around the headphone and mic jack. Perhaps if I had known the internal geometry I could have easily persuaded it back together. But I didn't. So I took it completely apart.
Here she is, down to the magnesium chassis. Aside from a bunch of screws, there are a bunch of cables, connectors and ribbons to deal with. Let the record show I had no directions whatsoever and didn't really even organize the screws, since I'm some kind of hotshot. I got the motherboard placed and a few screws into place. One thing that makes it difficult is that there's a metal shield that goes between the keyboard and motherboard. Some screws go through that and some don't. So I had to repeatedly overlay the shield to figure out which screws I would wait to install, and which I could just screw in. I am sure I don't have all the screws in the right place. BUT - I had not a single screw left over. Honestly, I consider that a major achievement. All you Sony haters, you must admit, this is quality hardware (it's going on 8 years old, original MB, hinges, display, etc. and it's survived a 30" fall onto tile while powered on). By the way, there's an easter egg in this pic. Did you find it?
I finally found the Cingular SIM card. It is a mini-SIM accessible from behind the battery. Never saw it before. It's ironic that it took a full disassembly to find it. Anyway, my Titan takes a mini-SIM. I wonder if it would work. Cingular is now AT&T so it just may....more to come?
I forgot to mention, it powered up first try after re-assembly. Yay!