It's a slim Starwars LE PSP.
I bought it on eBay (I knew it wouldn't read UMDs, didn't know they meant it wouldn't load them at all). I don't really NEED it to read UMD's, since I got it for homebrew and whatnot, but it would be really nice to be able to buy games for it.
$25-$30 USD, if you know wheree to look. Installation is VERY, VERY difficult for a newbie, so I don't recommend it. But, if you are deadset on buying UMD's, it may cost you another $20-$30 to get it professionally installed. I say just buy the games and download the ISO (Which is legal, btw, since you own the license to play the game by purchasing.)
True, true.
As long as no soldering is involved, I'm pretty confident I can do it, but I don't think I will. Too much money, and as you said, I can just use an ISO loader.