I do not recommend a novice working on the internals of a compact mac.

Compact macs were not designed to be user maintained.

1. The case needs to be "cracked." Cracking the case of a compact mac requires a long torx wrench or a homemade tool. It can be done with care, but it is easy to damage the case.

2. The internal CRT can carry a very high electric charge. You don't want

to be shocked by it. To be safe, the CRT needs to be discharged.

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See http://lowendmac.com/tech/crt_danger.html (disable stylesheets if their ads obscure the text). There is no reason to be afraid of opening up a compact mac. Just leave the HV bits well enough alone. Don't bother them, and they won't bother you.

Also, it is easy to open up a compact mac without damaging it. Just search this forum for any number of excellent, time-tested methods (e.g., the "shake vigorously with the screen a few inches above plush carpet" method).

The SE/30 is a *great* machine for doing what you want. It's the best compact mac ever made. I do like the LCIII as well, but it's not an all-in-one, so it doesn't meet the criteria you specified.

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