How to open a laptop without breaking the latch?

Question

Do it yourself

Every time I disassemble laptops (my own), I do it as carefully and without force as possible, twisting all the screws, naturally, after looking at the corresponding disassembly manuals. There is always such a moment that the case is held on by snaps. Usually, I go around the perimeter of the case, starting from the corner, with a sharpened plastic card. And in 70% of cases, the latches break. Is it possible to open the laptop without breaking these latches?

Answer 1

Either your laptops are wrong or plastic cards are 2 cm thick. I disassembled a lot of laptops, but there are almost no such problems anywhere.
The body usually consists of an upper and lower half. Be sure to remove the keyboard, unscrew everything that might interfere, dismantle the drive. After that, try with your fingers through any technological holes to slightly bend one of the parts of the case so that the latches do not need to be snapped off. Sometimes it is better to do it the other way around inside, as if twisting the body. The other half in the right place can be bent a little. If you are using a card, do not try to insert it very deeply. After you have dealt with the first few latches, slowly, slightly bending the body, try to pull out the rest (much like with eyelets on a bra). The main thing here is not to rush, because at this stage only haste can lead to a breakdown.
In general, manufacturers often expect that you will simply throw away the laptop after the slightest reason to open it, in exchange for buying a new one, so you should be glad that these are just latches, and not some kind of rivets.