As words spread about me disassembling and cleaning many laptops and making guides along the way. A few friends of mine gained confidence in me and asked me to clean their laptops as well. Of course, I agreed and I was lucky enough to get my hands on a dirty Dell XPS M1210. Thanks to Fooshen.

This guide will explain detailed step by step sequence to dismantle a Dell XPS M1210 laptop.

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Advices taken here are taken at your own risk. AhWee.com will be held no responsibility if you break any of the hardware and lose your warranty.

NOTE: Even though Dell said disassembling yourself would lose your warranty, but I haven’t void anybody’s warranty in any possible way yet.

Tools You Need For Dismantling and Cleaning

1. Philips Screwdriver (around 2.5 mm will do)
2. Flat Blade Screwdriver
3. A brush (about 1 inch would do it)

I usually have 2 Philips screwdrivers, one for disassembling (big), one for reassembling (small), paired with a test pen and a brush for cleaning.

Before You Start

There are a few things you’ll need to do before you start disassembling your Dell XPS M1210.

1. Clear your table
   Ensure that you have plenty of space (1 meter square would be great) to put all the components so they won’t go missing or dropping off the table.
2. Remove the battery
   To remove the battery from your Dell XPS M1210, slide the battery latch until it clicks. Then lift it up from it’s battery bay.
   
3. Ground the motherboard
   When the battery is removed, simply ground the motherboard by pressing on the power button for a few seconds.
4. Ground your hands
   Ground your hands by wearing a wrist grounding strap or touching an unpainted metal surface from time to time.

And you’re set to disassemble your Dell XPS M1210.

Step 1: Remove Harddisk, RAM, Communication Cards and Optical Drive

Removing these small but important things would help ease up your disassembling experience. What is most crucial is you even get to protect these components from disassemble scratches and bumps.

How to remove Harddisk?

1. Located the harddisk at the bottom right (base up) of your XPS M1210.
2. Remove four M3 x 3mm screws with a “container” label.
3. Slide the harddisk out from the compartment.
   

Treat your harddrive with extreme care! Do not bump it or apply any impact on it. It’s best to contain it in an electrostatic bag to prevent electrostatic discharge.

How to remove RAM?

The RAMs in your M1210 is located at 2 places.

One is at the bottom of the laptop, at the compartment right below the battery latch. Another is located under your keyboard. What a fuss … The good thing is the method to remove the RAMs is still the same.

1. Use 2 fingers to pull the clips apart.
2. The RAM will pop up. Release it by pulling it forward.
   

How to remove Communication Cards?

Your Communication Cards are located in the compartment with a “C” label at the top left hand corner (base up) of the laptop.

1. Unscrew the screw of the cover.
2. Gently pull out the connecting antennas to the cards.
3. Removing the card is a little similar to the RAM’s. Pull the pins that is holding the communication cards apart.
   
4. The card will pop up.
5. Remove it without bending the card.

How to remove Optical Drive?

The Optical Drive is located at the bottom left (base up) of your XPS M1210. To remove the optical drive,

1. Unscrew the M2.5 x 8mm screw with the lock label.
2. Use the screw driver to push the metal tab outwards
3. The metal tab is connected to the drive thus the whole optical drive will move out. Pull it from there.
   

Step 2: Remove The Hinge Cover

1. Note the little indent at the right side of the hinge cover.
2. Use your test pen (or any flat bladed screw driver) to pry open the hinge cover from there.
   
3. Be extremely gentle and do not bend the hinge cover too much to avoid it breaking.

Step 3: Remove The Keyboard

1. Remove three M2.5 x 5mm screws located at the top of the keyboard.
2. Carefully lift the keyboard until you can have a clear view of the keyboard connector.
3. Lift up the tab to free the cable.
   

Step 4: Remove The LCD Screen

1. Still remember the antennas you had just unplugged earlier? Push them through the hole located at the upper left hand side of the WLAN bay.
2. Unroute all the cables from the routing lines.
3. Disconnect the display cable.
   
4. Unscrew four M2.5 x 8mm screws located at the back and at the bottom of the laptop.
   
5. Gently lift the LCD screen support out from the base of the laptop.

Step 5: Remove The Palm Rest

The palm rest is always the hardest part to remove. Always keep in mind that Dell made your laptop in such a way that technicians can open it without breaking any components. That means there’s definitely no need to use too much force to pry or lift any part.

1. Note the “P” label for Palm rest on the palm rest.
2. Unscrew all seven “P” labeled M2.5 x 5mm screws.
   
3. Unscrew another four M2.5 x 8mm screws at the bottom of the laptop
4. Loosen the captive screw located at the most bottom right (base up) of the laptop.
5. Remove the little Bluetooth component located under the battery.
6. Disconnect both the Coin Cell Battery cable and the Touch Pad cable.
7. Separate your palm rest from the base starting from the back of the laptop.

Some Cleaning Tips

Here are the components where I always clean when cleaning a laptop.

1. The fan
   Where most dusts are collected.
2. The air vents
   To improve air flow of the laptop. Here’s how dirty the air vent can be.
   
3. Motherboard
   Gently brush the dust away with a paint brush, not too hard unless you wanna break those little chips.
4. Covered part of the palm rest
   
5. Keyboard
   You will be amazed with how many things that was hid under the keys.

There you go, another Dell XPS m1210 disassembled. I’ve got another Dell XPS M1530 coming so stay tuned!

More laptop disassembly guides at the Laptop Disassembly Archive.

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