Link
ithic.com
The microphone is much better on the newer board revision than previous. It should be fine, and if for some reason it doesn't work, you can still use the microphone built into the headphone port.
Eh, I'm not risking it. Too many small resistors and stuff around the area of the port. I'd much rather spend alot of money sending it in and knowing it will get fixed, than spending some money and having the risk of breaking the rest of the board. Thanks anyways.well, if you're up to some simple desoldering, this port should do
http://www.molex.com..._CONNECTORS.xml
now, I realize that port isn't surface mount, but you should be able to bend the pins a little