Quoted from BJM-Maxx:I did a CPR swap on mine. This was my 3rd playfield swap and HighSpeed was by far the longest one to do. Look at the shear quantity of items underneath compared to later Sys 11 machines which have many fewer pieces to remove and replace.
That being said, I would only do a hard top if there were no other options for a machine I planned to keep.
I started on this thread trying to find more info on hardtops as my Laser Cue doesn't have either option. So good point about your only choice. I'm currently trying to judge interest in creating a hard top for LC. It seems like for some games the hard top may be the only possible future fix.
How long did the playfield swap take you?