Sony TZ: Replacing thermal paste identifying parts?

Does anyone know how to apply thermal paste to the Sony TZ series? I've opened it up and not really sure where the CPU/heatsink is. Looks complicated to further disassemble the thing.

I'm looking forward to applying artic silver 5 all over the thing, unless of course it doesn't use any, not sure. What do people usually do after 2 years, bring it in for servicing?

 

Use a better thermal paste, AS5 is not the best any more.

Yes you do need to replace the paste, and every notebook needs thermal paste.

 

I disassembled according to some guides on the net found under the TZ disassembly sticky in this forum. I removed the keyboard, SD and Memory Stick slots, and 1.8" HDD Cage. After having a look around inside my unit, here's what I found out.

To replace the thermal paste once you've detached the keyboard, you need to be able to lift up the entire motherboard from the laptop's back cover. Pretty much the CPU is underneath near the RAM.

At the moment this is potential dangerous as I have no idea how to safely remove those tiny connectors (makro connectors? not sure of the name) that are apparent all over the motherboard. They are circled in red on the photos below while the blue circles represent easier connectors to pull out. They also seem delicate and fragile. A disassembly guide says to yank it vertically upwards, but I haven't done since its very risky.

If I can remove those connectors, it would be easier I think to lift up the motherboard from the right side, while keeping the more difficult left side intact. I don't want to mess with this side.