Considering buying a PSP.

Go on craigslist.com and find your local area and search for a PSP.
There is bount to be someone selling a modded PSP cheap now a days because the PSP Go came out.
Not all PSP 2000 are hackable, the ones that are not will have to have firmware lower than 5.00 I think I have no Idea.
I have 2 Modded PSP 1000, and a PSP Go.
I never bother getting the PSP 2000 or 3000.
The highest well its the biggest memory card you can find, I have seen 16 GB and 32 GB ones.
Anyways don't pay that much for a used one specially on Gamestop, and make sure you know which PSP can be hacked and which ones can't do to the new motherboards.
If you google you will find the answer easily, also for the pandoras battery you can find that on dealextreme for cheap
and some other sites that also sell DS Flash carts.

 

1) I plan on buying a PSP Slim [2000?] because I've heard that it's less awkward to hold and that it's also somewhat sturdier. But it looks...cheaper to me. Likewise, I know from experience the innards of the PSP-1000 are flimsy. What's your opinion? Fat PSP or Slim?: I like my electronics fat. They're more durable and last a little longer, although they look awkward in a pocket

2) I'm going to buy it from Gamestop. it's $119 used. I don't want a new one. Any suggestions online where I could find it for cheaper and like new/refurbished? Ebay is lame. If not don't get too bent out of shape, it's pure curiosity.: You can get some free from those survey sites, but those take a while. You can probably do Amazon or Ebay, but those aren't refurbished or as reliable. I got my used PS2 from Gamestop for only $60 and it's run like a charm ever since. They're pretty good in regards to used games and consoles

3) I know a PSP isn't as sturdy as a DS, so I want to take extra care of it, too. What kind of accessories should I get? Brand specific? (screen protectors, shock armor etc.): IDK, sorry bud. Most of the time it just involves taking extra care of it. I wouldn't throw it in your back pocket any time soon. Maybe a carrying case?

4) What are you doing when you're "pandorizing" a battery? I did my research - I know the end result of the battery is to prevent it from bricks and to allow backups to be played from a Memory Stick as well as make UMDs region-free - but what's going on with the inside? Does the lithium battery hold memory data for the PSP or something?: I think it just runs code through your PSP, that's pretty much it. It does involve removing your standard battery, though. As long as you don't try getting it out with a crowbar, you should be safe as long as you use some common sense

5) What's the highest capacity for Memory Sticks, and where's a good place to look? I plan on getting one without a Memory Stick bundled so it's more affordable.: IDK, sorry bud

I'm not a PSP owner, but just my suggestions.

 

32 gb is the bigest, u get get to fast 16 gb sd cards and an adatoper.

or you can get a cheap 16 gb of DX for 30.

if your that chep 18 dollors for an 8gb, cant go wrong.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12796

 

Wow, okay here we go.

Get a slim. Why? It has more memory which is utilized by some homebrew and plugins (such as Dark_Alex's save state feature, a complete necessity for a portable). You have to be careful though because not all Slims are hackable, only the earlier models. If you happen to have one of the unhackables, as long as the firmware isn't higher than 5.03 you can use the image exploit Chickhen to mod it. Downside is no way to downgrade if you ever upgrade and you have to run the exploit everyime you fully shut the system off.

If color doesn't matter to you, you can get the God of War red PSP bundle on Amazon for 128.99 USED, I suggested this because as far as I know, all those PSP slims are hackable.

To be honest, I never bothered with a screen protector because the faceplates are easily replaceable. I just bought a custom colored faceplate when mine got too dinged up and put it on. I've been golden since.

When you pandorize a battery, (something you'll need to borrow your friends PSP to do as only pre-hacked ones can do it) you change the serial number of the battery which is stored in the battery's EEPROM to 0xFFFFFFFF which the PSP detects upon insertion of the battery and sends it into Service Mode where it loads the Custom Firmware Installer from the memory stick (which you'll also have to prepare on your friends PSP). You can then change it back the same way.

I've seen 32GB. There is this Memory stick adapter which takes 2 MicroSD instead, though I heard the corruption rate on that is uncomfortably high.

 

1. get a hackable psp 2000/slim i have mine, and it rocks, try going for those limited edition such as GOW, and of course starwars, battery is solvable by putting fat battery on it
2. on gamestop do check on what firmware the psp have, some people update it into the las firmware,and you get the risk on not being able to do piracy on it
3 screen protector and maybe hard case armor, just don't drop it, i lost my battery and cap from dropping it
4.psp battery have one of those memory storage or something, it basically tells the psp to enter service-mode
5.original mem stick is around 16 or you could get those adapters which is 32

don't feel bad buying psp for piracy, it's better than some people who is a hyphocrite

 

If you go with a 2000 psp, make sure the firmware is 5.03 or under!! Thats very important. The special versions of the 2000, ie, Daxter silver, Star Wars White, and GOW red are all known to be hackable, so that should give you a few more options. Personally I rock a phat, and love it. Wish the screen was a tad brighter, but its a tank, and I don't use skype.

As far as memory sticks go, The adapter that has been referenced is called a photofast.(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001I0T92Q) It takes 2 micro sd cards and uses them as 1 big MS. They do not support magicgate, but are generally faster then other memory sticks. I was able to get one for around $4usd, and a couple of 8gb sd cards for $13 each, so for around $30 you can have a 16gb memory stick with good read/write speed. As far as corruption is concerned on theese adapters, once you get your sd cards, do not remove them...its way to easy to mix them up and corrupt all your data!

 

2001 should be fine, really i believe there's a thread about this somewhere

 

ask for the datecode that's behind the battery if it is 8b or lower it is hackable if it's higher you can't mod it with a pandora.

 

nope, tried sometimes ago

upgrade to gen b-2 it's not as glitchy as everybody making it sounds like