I was able to upgrade my laptop to 16 GB. 2 pitfalls: 1. Corsair RAM does not play well despite Corsair's claims. Stick to either an OEM supplier or Crucial. 2. Both sticks of RAM must be the same size. Otherwise, you may see strange things on your screen. This is a known bug with the Intel chipset in this laptop.
If you have a CDMA phone, start from the opposite side and consider trying to poke at the bottom with the opening tool.