The 8500 was, indeed, a major PitA to work on. Four thumscrews at the back, then, if I recall correctly, you were then looking at the bottom of the motherboard, and that required some convolutions to remove in order to add RAM ... it's many years ago now, but that's my recollection of it.

-rob.

Yes; I have one sitting here that's been upgraded up the wazoo. Among other things I have a floppy cable hanging out the front of the floppy port where a second HD is mounted...

Not only do you have to mess with the screws in the back and remove other major components to get access to the memory, it is also a pain to put the cover back on, since you have to get the little metal strips on the edges lined up perfectly before the cover will go on, and you usually bend a few of them each time you do it.

But, the 7500 (which I recently got rid of) was relatively easy to get access to, since everything just unlatched and swung open. Almost as easy as today's machines.

The best thing about these machines is the processor daughter-card that makes it easy to upgrade the processor.