First I went off to buy a Kingston 1GB DDR2-667 SODIMM stick, which is dirt cheap these days.

Then with a bit of sticker backing / wax paper, a precision flathead screwdriver, cotton swabs and some WD-40, I proceeded to remove my warranty stickers. Oh, and you need a lot of patience.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Spray some WD-40 onto a cotton swab, until the tip is damp with the lubricant.
2. Swab the surface of the sticker until the lubricant has been thoroughly absorbed (repeat #1 if needed).
3. Spray some WD-40 onto the tip of the screwdriver.
4. Wedge the tip of the screwdriver underneath a corner/edge of the sticker and slowly peel it off by wedging the screwdriver in a few millimeters at a time.
5. Apply lubricant to the screwdriver again once it becomes dry.
6. Repeat the last two steps.

The sticker should now be easy to remove, as the adhesive side no longer sticks to the surface of the Eee too much. Your main concern here would be that the sticker doesn’t disintegrate. These warranty stickers are made to rip apart when you try to remove them.

Once you have completely removed a sticker, transfer it onto some wax paper or sticker paper backing, so you can easily replace it when the need arises.

The results:

RAM and mini PCIe slots of the Asus Eee PC. The RAM stick was easy enough to replace.

Don’t try this at home, kids! Okay, you can, but be sure to contact your local Asus centre first, to confirm if they will honor warranty without the stickers.

Asus clears things up with a press release:

ASUS Computer International (“ASUS”) recently received feedback from one of its valued customers with questions concerning the purpose of a seal stating, “Warranty Void If Removed” over the access door to the single SODIMM slot on some models of the ASUS Eee PC. ASUS wishes to assure its customers that merely breaking or removing this kind of seal will not void the ASUS Limited Warranty.

So basically they say that it’s always best to have your unit serviced by authorized service personnel. Still, for most advanced users, I think accessing the RAM and mini PCIe slot would be simple enough.

Personally, I feel that 512MB of RAM is enough for general purposes, especially when using Xandros. But those who are using Windows XP need that RAM boost, and are better off spending the extra $30 or so for a 1GB stick.

So it’s clear then — you don’t void your warranty opening the access door to the RAM slot. But for more advanced hardware hacks, I think that’s a different story.

(via Eeeuser.com; hat tip to Joel; image from asuseeehacks.blogspot.com)