I bought a used 20 GB for the exact reason that you stated above.
I can say with 100% confidence that you should buy one while you can, the EE chip is that important.
I bought mine for 350 last year, upgraded the HDD, and had a ps3 with full hardware BC and a 160 GB HDD for a total of 400 bucks.
Well worth it.
Besides, with the less than 3% fail rate, you would have to be very unlucky to get one that breaks down.
On top of that, if it does, it will only cost you 150 bones to get it fixed proper by Sony.
We'll miss you George.
PSN:Puzzleface
XBL:XpuzzlefaceX
My friends call me Hadoken because I'm down-right fierce







