Well, I took apart my laptop this past Friday, piece by piece, screw
by screw. It was a little more intimidating than I thought it would
be. I had some difficulty getting the motherboard out after removing
all the components and screws. I finally got it out and was able to
desolder the old jack and solder the new one. That part wasn't as bad
as I thought. After reassembling everything, I had about a 50%
confidence that the laptop would power up without something not
working right. However, fortunately, it powered up and is so far
working great. The discussions on this forum were very helpful in
giving me the confidence and know how to tackle this money saving
task. Thanks!

Marco