Does horizontal/vertical matter with the Slim? I'm thinking about leaving mine vertical since it runs cooler.

I strongly disagree. I think it looks more symmetric and much cleaner sans all the chrome and I love the matte finish.

I got a 250GB PS3 as an anniversary gift from the misses. Haven't picked up any games or anything but ordered Star Trek Blu-Ray and ordered an HDMI cable cheap off Amazon. I really like the music visualizer though, already copied my music from my computer to that HD.

You might consider setting up a media server (assuming you're on a wireless network). That way, you can just stream music from your main computer to the PS3.

It's official...every person I know (in real-life) who owns a PS3 fat has had it die...four for four.

Sony needs to man-up IMO.

We should change the name of this thread to "The Official PS3 Thread - chess' PS3s are meant to be broken"

I don't get it.

I live in a residence hall with numerous restrictions, I can't set up a server.

Having used both methods (server and local diskspace) I much prefer having media stored on the internal 500GB drive.

if you ever get a WDHD TV LIVE you can stream pandora from that if you use one of it's supported wireless adapters.

Agreed. For what it's worth, all my attempts to pressure Sony to fix my console for free were completely stonewalled. I sent a whole set of links containing evidence of widespread problems. I threatened to contact the Better Business Bureau. I was persistent and asked for higher level customer service. The only answer I could get out of them was (paraphrased), "We understand your frustration and apologize for your negative experience. However, since your unit is out-of-warranty, we can't repair it for free. If you want to file a complaint, go ahead."

This doesn't bode well for me, seeing as how I have launch PS3 fat and both my PS1 and PS2 had problems with the laser.

Of course, I also have a launch 360 that has yet to red ring (though I did buy a replacement arcade when there was a dell deal for cheap because I wanted HDMI).

Neither my 3 friends nor myself had laser problems (disk read errors)...rather, the console in every case just died, more or less without warning. I expected mine was on its way out based on increased fan noise, but it worked flawlessly right up until it died.

My 3 friends FWIW are eroc and sean, who some of you know from Warhawk and another friend Talion who was the first person I know to own one and was the guy who convinced me to get one.

I wish you all the best obviously, but I can only recommend selling any working fat and getting a slim. Or, at a minimum, run the backup utility after finishing every game you care about.

Mine had the laser die as it would still play games from the hard drive and also still stream media. I've had the replacement fat 80GB for about a year now and it still works fine. The fan can be a bit noisy at times, even when watching video, but I figure I'll keep it until it dies and then get a slim. The partial backwards compatibility I have doesn't matter to me as I also have a PS2 which I haven't turned on in about 8 months.

Surprisingly my controllers are still working fine, I got 2 sixaxis ones with the console and later bought a dual shock. I regularly use the dual shock and one of the sixaxis, the other one hasn't been used in over a year. The R2 button on the dual shock is extremely sensitive where sometimes I think just looking at it can make it press the button.

Agreed. Maybe I was doing it wrong, but I couldn't get any in-game music / custom playlists (Burnout, etc.) to stream from a media server. So, I've stuck with transferring music to the internal drive which seems to work just fine.

Well, for those of us who have had it die, it has usually taken 2-3 years.

Also, if you got it for xmas, you probably got a slim, which seems to run much cooler. We'll see how that works out long term, but I know my fingers are crossed.

Out of the 3 people I know with 60GB units 2 have died. The Blu-ray drive died in one of my friends after a year of use, the other got the YLoD after about 2 years.

Well, I've had my 60gb PS3 for over 2 years now. But, I just can't sell it to some unsuspecting ebayer knowing it's lifespan might be a lot shorter than the buyer would expect.

I certainly don't expect Sony to fix it for free or replace it, but is the "going rate" for a Slim upgrade on a failed unit $150?

If so, I can live with that.

This is disappointing. I bought my PS3 60gb refurb'd in Jan of '08

Still going strong but I honestly haven't used it much.

I have a Metal gear 80gb unit. How are these holding up?

I'm in the same boat. A 2 1/2 year old 60 GB one (with a 320 GB HDD inside it instead), working fine. Gets a lot of use as a BR player and some occasional gaming. If it dies and I have it replaced with a slim for $150, I'd be ok with that.

Yeah same here. I got it in June of 2008 and it seems to be working just fine for now. The fan is not louder than it used to be and i pretty much turn it on every single day (i watch lots of downloaded tv shows on it, some games and lots of blu-ray movies)

Can i just copy all my game saves unto my 16GB USB Key? I assume you can re-download the rock band purchased stuff from the PSN download history right? And most of the stuff on my 80GB drive are only tv shows and stuff i already have on my computer so i don't mind losing them. I don't want to buy an external HD just to back my PS3 up in case it dies.

My launch 60 GB last about 2.5 years before the YLOD took hold. I'm happy with the slim. I didn't use BC very often. I wasn't happy with the $150 fee, but its cheaper than a new one.

Yeah, mine's still rock-solid too. Whisper quiet and zero issues - and I've had it since it came out and use it almost every day: blu-rays/dvds, streaming, downloads, and, oh yeah, games...