After reading the forum for a few weeks, I finally decided to get a PS2 V7 over the new slim PS2. The question now is what is the best "mod" for easiest simplest use? Hardwired mod chip? HDD (does it require modchip?)? Seemed like the cheapest thing to do is to get Swap Magic, but is that the easiest to use?
Swap Magic is easy but you run the risk of killing your laser much sooner than if you had a hard drive to boot from. I had a V9 PS2 that got fried after using swap magic. The L.A. chip fried itself when it pumped in too many volts to the laser trying to read a back-up. I'd never use swap magic again. Currently I'm getting my recently acquired V7 chipped and I'm going to put a hard drive in it. No more optical drive.
the memory card exploit is a good way to go. uses the laser only on startup. but if you go with a modchip, like joshewah, you can skip the laser. it's best to have a usb hdd enclosure to transfer games. you won't have to open your computer tower to plug in the hdd. winhiip is the program to transfer games. only thing is that if you're an online gamer, you can't use hdd games (verification needed).
