I feel like the original fat PS3 isn't as reliable as the slim. This isn't based on any real stat, mind you. Just that I've come across the occasional YLOD story (yellow light of death) for the fat but haven't come across any death stories for the slim or super slim. According to Wikipedia (
link) the PS3 had a 0.5% failure rate in 2009, which is normal low. I've also read that the thermal compound dries out in the fats. My first PS3 was a fat, and the disc drive got really noisy. And after reading about the thermal compound (true or not) I decided to trade my fat in for a slim. At this point, I've owned my slim for longer than I had my fat. I haven't had any issues with it, and the disc drive sounds the same as the day I got it.
Also keep in mind that if you get a slim or super slim, it will most likely come with a good size HDD. If you get a fat PS3, you might get a fairly small HDD. I think the models that are PS2 BC were only 60 and 80 GB HDDs (unless the previous owner already updated it). This is too small if you want to install a lot of games. This was another reason I decided to upgrade my fat to a slim, a HDD upgrade was included.
Yes, the OG PS3 had two
models for BC with the PS2. One was purely hardware based, it had the Emotion Engine CPU. The other model excluded the Emotion Engine CPU, but wasn't totally software emulation. It was a hybrid hardware/software solution. All models of the PS3 have PS1 software emulation.
I'm almost certain that Sony has an official (in)compatibility list for the PS3 on their site, but I couldn't find it just now. Anyone have a link for that?
Just putting it out there as a suggestion... You could get a PS2 slim, which is backwards compatible with PS1 via hardware instead of software emulation. And, of course, it is a real PS2. Then get a PS3 slim or super slim just for PS3 games. It might even be a cheaper option than getting a "BC PS3". The trade off is needing to have two consoles hooked up instead of just one.
If you're planning on using the PS2 with an HDTV, you'll most likely want to be getting component cables for it. One thing to note about this is some HDTVs do not like 240p over component. This means you wont be able to play much PS1. The PS3 has HDMI output, and upscales PS1 games. So you wont have any issues there, aside from the PS3 emulating the PS1 via software while the PS2 has a hardware method.
One thing of note, if you get a PS2 slim, just stay away from the
SCPH-75001 model. It has the longest list of incompatible PS1 games as well as a few PS2 games for some reason. Also note that one revision of the power adapter for the PS2 slim had a
recall.