background: Mac boots from all media except retail OS X installation media. I try everything including paying $50 to be told "we don't know"... when I resort to resetting the SMC.
observation: Turns out, the battery is secured with Y-cut-head screws, rather than the traditional Phillips screws of the hard drive.
So not only is the hard drive a more obvious target... it's considerably easier to get to in my opinion. (Unless people have Y-shaped screwdrivers lying around, who knows).
You're right, I missed the fine print. Thanks for getting me to look again: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964 (look for "Resetting the SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own", how silly of me, I shouldn't remove it because they used proprietary screws)
Regardless, I think it still speaks to the notion that the battery is harder to attack than the hard drive other than the more obvious reasons.
observation: Turns out, the battery is secured with Y-cut-head screws, rather than the traditional Phillips screws of the hard drive.
So not only is the hard drive a more obvious target... it's considerably easier to get to in my opinion. (Unless people have Y-shaped screwdrivers lying around, who knows).