Fans normally suck the hot air out. It would seem like the less space there is, the less the fan has to do. I'm probably completely wrong though.
That's probably true. I don't know as much about cooling as I should. However, it still seems to me that with less space, there is less hot air to take out, which would leave the overall temp pretty hot. I guess the fan wouldn't have much to suck out, but I would think that would still leave a hot area still, with little cool air to cool the components. I'm just taking the word of the guys in the thread I mentioned. They seem to know a whole lot about this kind of stuff.
Yes; the redesign cuts a huge amount of needless space from the original PS2 design. As far as hardware; it is the least impressive of the systems, graphically; had very difficult to program for abilities for developers which also led to underuse of its capabilities; a first run of products which, by and large, had many faulty defects with both its game and DVD capabilities; several iterations of the system that continue to cut away or fix past design mistakes (built in DVD reciever, complete removal of link port); and not to mention the first run of systems had problems when you turned it on its side...which is exactly how the system was initially advertised as how it should be stored. And we won't even get into the Hard Drive issues. So yeah, I personally feel Sony has had the weakest track record - in terms of hardware - for this generation. As an aside; it seems like you and I keep getting into discussions nobody else seems interested in. That makes me sad. I also hope you don't think I'm trying to argue with you or anything, or have something against the PS2 (cause I play the hell out of it); it's just the fact that Sony has presented a lot of faults this generation (as have all systems) and it seems like people just seem to shrug and accept it. (not saying you do, mind you). I never understood that.
Like I said, the original PS2 pretty much HAD to have that stuff in it. The original EE and GS took up a lot more space in the original, but now Sony has been able to put them together into one chip. They've basically found a way to reduce the size of their components as time went on, and they've given a bit of a boost to the CPU and improved the fan, IIRC. Also, I still don't see where the problems for the early PS2's come from. I've given my example of how myself along with my friends have all had PS2's since near the beginning, and the thread I gave earlier gave similar accounts. Also, I think I mentioned this during the beginning of the thread, but I remember the Xbox having some problems with their DVD drives that they had to deal with. As far as what I know about the graphics from this gen, the PS2 generally is the weakest of the three, although this not always the case. For those developers that develop soley for the PS2, taking advantage of what it has to offer instead of leaving the option of porting games, making games that look beautiful is not hard. Just look at MGS, GT4, Killzone, and the sequel to ICO. Also, a few of the games that were supposed to be just for the PS2 but were later ported to other systems, like that one MGS and GTA, suffered some on their new systems. The programming part does suck, yet I've heard from some developers that this means nothing for true programmers. In fact, the creator of MGS, (forgot his name...Kojima or something) actually prefers a more difficult system to program for than a easier one. Given the advantage that the CPU for the PS2 has over the other two consoles, it can do some things better than those two. As for our discussions, I like them in a way. It is pretty messed up that no one else cares though. I also understand where you're coming from and I feel the same way. I like having these thoughts to discuss.
Never had a problem with overheating on my XBOX i usually leave it on for days and nothing ever happens. My DVD drive went out on it becuase i had the original XBOX with the Thompson drive which is known to be a piece of crap. Now i have the newer version with a Philips Drive witch is really nice.