I've still got a 60GB PS3 and it still works fine, Blu-Ray player and all. It gets really loud, but it's always been that way. But I also stayed away from a couple late-gen games that were rumored to be destroyers of the OG models, such as The Last of Us.
There's some misinformed people ITT. The 60GB PS3 has a full PS2 chip inside; there's no emulation going on. When you launch a PS2 disc, it switches over to the PS2 chip, and though the PS2's OS is not available, it effectively functions like a real PS2. Memory cards are emulated.
One thing I've never been able to figure out is why the PS2 games from PSN run at low framerates on the launch model (or at least on mine). My guess is that the revised Cell processor that's in the Slim was secretly upclocked by Sony. Unfortunately PSN's PS2 games aren't run on the PS2 chip. So, buyer beware if you're looking to download PS2 games for an OG model – you're going to have to settle for buying retail discs.