I just saw on a website, that the new V12 PS2 has very, very, very big probs with the laser!!
Without some extra mods (hotfixes) the laser of the new PS2 gets burned out very quickly with CDR & DVDR!
PPL even instantly killed it with CDRW / DVDRW!!!
The new laser unit is just too sensible.
Now it's proven: NEWER IS NOT BETTER