If you need space you can remove half of the memory
I would notice if I didn't have 16GB.
or remove the cooling fan
Any tech person is going to notice the difference in about 40 minutes. I know this because I once didn't seat the plug for the fan correctly on my girlfriend's Macbook.
or install a slightly smaller battery
This isn't going to be so simple. There's electronics in the battery that talks to other hardware in your Macbook. That said, it's one of the most accessible and fastest to replace components in a Macbook.
A spy-agency could manufacture a battery with he addition of a little microcontroller with its own cellular broadband. It's probably within the technical capabilities of such an organization to be able to use accelerometers and microphones to determine keystrokes enough to greatly narrow down the search space for passwords. The device should be able to sense when the machine comes back from sleep mode very easily, and a cluster of characters typed shortly after that is likely to be the password.
I would notice if I didn't have 16GB.
or remove the cooling fan
Any tech person is going to notice the difference in about 40 minutes. I know this because I once didn't seat the plug for the fan correctly on my girlfriend's Macbook.
or install a slightly smaller battery
This isn't going to be so simple. There's electronics in the battery that talks to other hardware in your Macbook. That said, it's one of the most accessible and fastest to replace components in a Macbook.
A spy-agency could manufacture a battery with he addition of a little microcontroller with its own cellular broadband. It's probably within the technical capabilities of such an organization to be able to use accelerometers and microphones to determine keystrokes enough to greatly narrow down the search space for passwords. The device should be able to sense when the machine comes back from sleep mode very easily, and a cluster of characters typed shortly after that is likely to be the password.