I used to be against rooting, and i admit that it was mostly the "fear factor". I finally took the plunge, after reading all that i could, and it worked out fine. Find a good thread about how to root(i used the one by Skunkape60), and follow the directions SLOWLY.

 

rooting without flashing custom ROM won't give you anything additional from the updates perspective.

but you will gain the ability of new apps that require root access.

you will have to flash a custom ROM whenever you want to try a different Android version. last year, i was flashing different ROMs from 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.2, 4.2.1, and 4.2.2

if you want something "official" or Samsung/TouchWiz, you will basically be relying on a developer to port over something. for example, the Galaxy Note 2 was the first Samsung device to have 4.1.2, so there were ports over. but then we officially got 4.1.2

then now, only the Galaxy S4 has 4.2.2, but no one has ported that over yet.

 

If you want to be rooted but don't want to flash a custom rom i would recommend CF ROOT ...search it on youtube...very simple and safe...but as was stated above, the only way to get a higher version of android on your s3 would be to flash a custom rom...I am on 4.1.2 and its stable and great...i could care less about the update to 4.2.2 for now...4.3 released today and there will def be custom roms available very soon...

 

P A said on g+ that they are merging the 4.3 build right now! I don't think those guys sleep.

Might have to abandon the slim bean ship for a day or two to check it out

 

+1 on Slim. While they aren't the first with other ROMs' features, they are definitely about stability.