Hi, I bought a HP Pavilion 14 AL033TX recently. Was struggling with opening it up (intend to swap the HDD with a SSD).
Any tips on how to disassemble this laptop without breaking anything? Thank you!
1) remove small screws around border of laptop
2) remove 2 screws beneath long rubber base strip (take note, these screws are a bit larger)
3)use PLASTIC tab/card to pry open gold base from black keyboard mount (soft plastic to prevent too many scratches, guitar picks or cards are okay.) go all around bottom to back of laptop, push gold base outward and downwards from black keyboard mount. Good place to start from are the ports, just don't use too much strength otherwise will mishape port cutouts.
4) switch hdd with ssd. No screws here, anti vibration rubber mounts.
5) replace laptop base and screw everything back.
Assuming you know how to reinstall OS, can request from HP to send you the installation discs and driver installation discs.