A little question

[Dustpuppy]

Hiya folks,

My wifes sister is thinking of buying a PS2 but what I heard from her she seems to prefer the old style and not the new slimline.
One guess is that she wants to be able to use hd-loader.

I'm gonna help her install a modchip in it.

The question is, do you think there is any way to find a new "old" style ps2?
or is it secondhand that I have to search.

The sad part is that when buying secondhand is that ít is kinda hard to really know what version it is. Many I asked just don't know or don't wanna tell. and when I ask for the SCPH numer they goes HUH??
I know that V7 is a preferred version but le later V9/10 was they so bad?
I have a friend that have punished his V9/10 with both dvd+r and dvd+rw for almost a year now and it still going strong.

If I can't find her a good old style then she has to go for the new V12.
But if she does, I get little worried about how that laser gonna blow or not.
heard so many different stories now on the laserfix and different types of it.
One says that it works flawless and next say that the laser blows anyway.

Guess my real question is more a suggestion from you all.
what should I recommend her ?

and if she goes with the v12 then how many modchips is suitable for that version? I know Matrix, DMS and Crystal can go with it.. and the muppet (but that name just scares me off).. is there any "budget" type of chip for v12?
I mean, all the above is kinda expensive.

Sorry if I don't make much sense