Are there any PS2 revisions to avoid?

[jdmlight]

I'm going to be buying my brother a PS2 for a wedding present. I was going to buy him a new one, but then I realized that a used one will work just as well with the added bonus of me spending the leftover money on a few games/an extra controller/etc.

But I don't want to get him a used one that's going to break in a month. Are there any "bad" revisions of the PS2?

He wouldn't care if it's fat or slim. It doesn't need to be portable-friendly. It doesn't need to be homebrew-friendly. It just needs to play PS2 games.

[jdmlight]

I would suggest just getting the slim, from my experience their laser units last longer than the fat ps2.

I just asked him a little more detail about it, and he said that he would rather the slim. However, I may buy a fat PS2 (to put a hard drive in) and give him my slim PS2. Depends on whether I want to solder 40 wires to my slim...(it's an original V12 slim, so I could add an IDE connector to it). In which case, I'm still interested in knowing of any bad revisions.

[hailrazer]

The V12 slims had a problem with the lasers burning out because of mod-chips.

[jdmlight]

The V12 slims had a problem with the lasers burning out because of mod-chips.

I got my brother a V13 slim. But I have a V12. I have two questions:
1. You mentioned modchips. Is the laser burn-out problem only if you install a modchip, or is it an issue with all V12 slims? (I don't intend to install a modchip, but I would like to know if my laser may be dying soon...)
2. Is the laser unit replaceable? (I know in the Playstation/PSOnes the laser module was separate and attached with a ribbon cable, which would be replaceable if you could find the part. I haven't opened my PS2 yet.)

[jdmlight]

The laser unit wears overtime, constant use of a dvd within a ps2 will shorten its life....and yes, the laser unit can be replaced.

Alright, then I won't worry about it. I'll just replace the laser unit when it breaks. Also, if I consider a PS2 portable, I'll think about putting a hard drive in my slim - a hard drive would use less power than the optical disc drive by far.