My launch PS3 still works fine, though to be fair i am pretty lucky with SONY systems -- all four of my SONY systems (PS1/2/3/P) all still work and with the exception of the PSP-2000 they are all the original form factor.

I had a friend whom had a launch ps3, but it died due to some sort of drive mess up like 2 years ago, but that was '09 so I guess that's kind of impressive right?

Well, I didn't buy it at launch but I bought it off my friend and he did. It's beat up and its loud as fuck...but it works.

My launch unit stopped working a bit over a year after I got it. January 2008 or so. The PSU straight up died. I couldn't get anything out of this system. No lights whatsoever, and my copy of Ape Escape was stuck in the system. Sony sent me a refurb for free since it was a launch unit, which was nice of them, and they sent me back my game as well.

The refurb they sent me broke down in June or July of 2009. The Blu-ray drive's motor died, so it wouldn't read any discs. They simply wouldn't spin. I had to pay $149 to get them to send me another refurb that time, and the new refurb has a bum fan that whines quite loudly, even on lower speeds. It also gets absurdly hot. Surprisingly, and despite sounding like it was going to die from the day I got it, this one's lasted the longest of all three systems. *knock on wood*

Whenever they release a unit with Wireless N for $199 or lower, I'll upgrade and pass off the unit I have now to a friend.

My US launch 60Gb has worked like a charm since I opened the box!

mine is still going, no problem at all, though I paid a friend to change the hd from 60 gb to 320 and lost all my saves , but besides that no issues whatsoever,

I read the older ones dont like the firmware updates so much so I'm always a little worried when downlaoding them (and i've had so many issues with other consoles and handhelds (that will remain unnamed) but so far its still going strong with no hint of any problems

my friend's 60GB is still working

Sounds like it may not be working for much longer. Fans running at high speed typically means the chipset is overheating and the fans are trying to compensate.

If you were to disassemble the console and remove the heatsink, you would probably find that the factory TIM has completely dried up. And you'd probably also find a lot of dust bunnies/debris clogging up the HSF and inside the casing if it's never been cleaned out properly in the last 4-5 years. 

That's exactly what my original PS3 started doing in the months just prior to when it gave me the YLoD. 

Mine is still working, and I bought it from best buy 2 days ago. I would hope it still works lol

My 60gb and 80gb ps3 both died. Only my wii is still going but gives me the occasional can't read disk error (disk stops spinning and won't power up again until a reset)

I had the 60gb repaired once under warranty and it died again 6 months later. I didn't bother getting the 80gb repaired, it's just postponing the inevitable. I had to start over with gt5 though.

The slim is working fine so far (not even a year old) but I miss the card reader. I carry it back and forth now between the living room and movie/game room since both sets of connections are still there anyway. A lot easier then carrying saves back and forth on memory cards only to find out copying of this content is not allowed.