get a slim..

120gb HDD

and $299

I sent mine to repaired.... wish I got a Slim instead, but.... Im scared it might die again on my 60GB.

Get a slim its worth it

Do as I have... fix ps3 and buy a slim :D Always good to have a backup!

250 HDD man Thats what i have

I'd wait for a bundle from Sony and take it to gamestop and trade it in. Yes they also take broken systems but they only give you about 50% value for it. Should knock about $50 off.

What did I do? 

I fixed a friends PS3. I bought a Wagner heat gun for $26 from Lowes and artic silver thermal paste for $9 from Radio Shack. I took apart his PS3 and heated the 2 big chips the CPU and GPU for about 2 mins each. His PS3 been working for about 2 months now. If you want to save money just do it yourself. You can pay about $35 for a do it yourself repair, $150 Sony repair, or a $300 new PS3 slim. The choice is yours.

When my 60 GB broke for the 2nd time, Sony had a temporary shortage of Replacement 60 Gigs, and so I got a 40 Gig from Sony (With my permission). So that one broke aswell.. Luckely, I got another 40 Gig, and that 1 broke within 2 months. So I got 100 euro's from Sony and bought a Slim. I've had no problems whatsoever with it, and it is faster aswell. You'll get over the looks, but it's way more reliable. Really, u should get a Slim.

I would recommend buying a new Slim rather than paying $150 for a repair/refurb.

You can always try doing the repair yourself at another time if you want a second console (for the cost of a heat gun, a liquid solder flux pen and thermal paste), or you can just trade it in for a handful of cash (easy), or sell it for parts on E-bay (more effort). Home repair jobs are not a permanent fix and odds are that you will be doing another one before too long.

Couldn't venture to give you an estimate as to how reliable the SCE refurb units are (in the case of a YLoD). I've heard some accounts of failures not long after the 90 day warranty. I have a 60GB refurb unit that is still working fine, but it's only a secondary PS3 that sees minimal use.

There's not much reason worth keeping the 40GB SKU without PS2 BC unless you really just like the piano black case.