Logan has cracked his first iMac. The hard drive in his early 2008 iMac (2.8 Intel Core 2 Duo, EMC 2211, 8,1) was going bad, and 2 GB of RAM was getting cramped. So, he undertook a hard drive and RAM replacement project.
We ordered a matched set of 2GB RAM strips and a 1 TB enterprise class hard drive from OWC. We got the glass removal suction cups on sale from Harbor Freight. I already owned the Torx drivers and other tools. Susan had the Spudger.
We watched this video, and looked at this guide for instructions while we did the deed.
Logan took responsibility for most of the jobs, except when it came to the naked LCD panel removal, that one he left for me.
The operation was a success, the iMac fired up, Logan held down the C key and started from a system CD, and breezed through a system install (10.6). Migrated all his stuff from his Time Machine backup (three cheers for Time Machine!) as part of the 10.6 install, and he is up and running.
Not bad for a just-turned-six-year-old.