Actually, I went hunting for the original spec PS3 because in the European releases it had the best kit. Got hold of one second hand and it runs absolutely solid as a rock. I expect first releases of software to be a bit crap, especially from Microsoft, but it's only MS hardware that has ever let me down on the first revision. My original MDA III, Athena, iAudio X5, PS2, etc, etc have had no hardware problems at all. None. Zip. Nil. Nada. Well, unless you count the time I knelt on my X5, but that's hardly iAudio's fault.

All four of my Sony consoles (PS1, 2, 3 and PSP) have been absolutely rock solid since the day I bought them, and I think all of them were second hand, too. Not saying that the PS1 and PS2 didn't have some hardware issues - I'm no fanboy - but they weren't nearly as bad as the 360's, and I've had no problems with Sony kit at all. On the flip side of the coin, all the 360s I've ever seen have died at some point, and last night my original X-box started making some odd noises, too...

Which I really don't want it to do, because I'm having way too much fun on Destroy All Humans right now! ;-)