Is a PS3 purchase worth it at this point?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Thanks for the summery, answered a few questions I had! So will these repairs that one can send to Sony if they get a BC model PS3 resolve the problems and make them efficient like the slim models? Then you just swap put the HD for like a 500gb and ready to go?

I think it's just standard repair/refurbishment. I don't believe that they modify anything for efficiency's sake, but you can swap out the HDD for a 500GB if you want.