My nephew has a slim (not super slim) and recently has found that whenever he does to play a DVD movie the PS3 makes a rattling noise. It's worst when he first puts the disc in, it quietens down a lot once the disc menue is on screen but doesn't go away completely.

When Blu-ray discs are used (games / movies it doesn't matter) there's no noise.

Is this a known thing with slims?

There's no point in getting the PS3 looked at because it's out of warranty and the price for getting it looked at would probably be more than buying a low end DVD player. But if this could be the start of an eventual optical drive failure then perhaps it does need to be looked at.

I have a slim and never had that problem. I've definitely used it for DVDs before so couldn't tell you from experience just that I've never heard of this problem from anyone I know who has a slim.

The laser could be starting to go. Or it got misaligned. I use my PS3 as disc players all the time. Unless it's only on a certain disc. It is a issue that may get worse. Bluray's won't be affected since their's two lasers (DVD's laser and BR's laser) in the ps3. If one fails. The other will work. Unless that one breaks.

I have the slim on the living room for the kids. They use it all the time for DVD & Blu-rays. I haven't heard a complaint at all from anyone. I do get constant complaints about Netflix being out and such, but never from the equipment itself.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation, I get annoyed when I've spent good money on defective products that don't meet their life expectations. Hope you can find a cheap solution.