PS2 Slim Help...

That's correct. It's not so much that a mod chip or swap magic disk is causing the lens to burn out. It's the fact that the "reading of burned disc" causes the lens to burn out. Both method causes the same amount of stress once the lens start reading back-ups. Anything that is forced to do something it's not originally programed to do, always get damage more easily/quicker.

There's a good and a bad for both method.*Mod Chip*(assuming it is a good quality chip)-good-
>plays all forms of backups: PS2, PSX, black, silver, blue, DVD5/9, JAP, USA, PAL, all
>easiest and least complicated way to boot a backup game-bad-
>can wear out the lens quicker than it's supposed to
>can void the warranty (like anybody really cares about the warranty anyways)
>possible of burn out of lens after so many hours of continuous gameplay*Hard Drive*(Unlike the fat PS2, with a slim, you need an external HD enclosure to hold HD, and needs to use USB Extreme)-good-
>can save a crap load of life on the lens
>does not void the warranty
>waiting/loading time gets cut in half-bad-
>can be get a little pricy
>If MC (memory card) Exploit is used, it can be a pain to setup (if you're not familiar with the scene)
>can not store game files that are too large into HD
>some stored games requires a patch to even be able to play
>requires a network adapter
>will not be able to store PSX gamesThat's some of what I can think of. The whole PS2 modding thing is based ultimately on your perference. I have both, a modded fat PS2 with a 200GB HD istalled. I used HD Loader version 1 to format my HD and also, only HD Loader V.1, besides HD Avance, will allow you to use full space in HD. After my HD was formatted, I have 186GB of free space. I lost 14GB of space but it could have been worst. I could have lost between 50-80GB if I used HD Loader V.2 or 3. Well, good luck in your decision.