I got a bluray player for christmas, but am going to take it back and get a basic PS3. I will probably never play a game on it, but I like the internet capabilities of it, and the bluray is its main selling point. That being said...

Are there any hacks/tips/mods that are avaliable that make the PS3 more enjoyable?

 

Hacks, tips or mods? Not really. Maybe a steering wheel for the racing games. The internet function is choppy. It's really slow and doesn't play videos.

 

You can install Linux software on it, which I guess is useful if you're into that sort of thing. You can use it to share movies/music/pictures to play on your tv/sound system.

Basically pretty much anything you can do on your computer, just not as well since it's processing power isnt up to par to recent PCs.

You can also upgrade your HDD on the ps3 quite easily. It's like a 10min job that requires virtually no technical expertise. Just need the 2.5" laptop style HDD running at under 7200 RPM (supposedly there are some compatibility issues with the 7200 rpm hard drives) and you're golden.

I'd recommend buying the cheapest ps3 that suits your needs then upgrading the hard drive if you need the extra space.

 

You cant buy a rateup adapter so you can use a keyboard and mouse instead of the 6-axsis controller. Other than that, everything is built in. I ran linux on mine for awhile, but I just didnt need a linux machine in my living room. The coolest thing, as ball mentioned, if you are running media center XP, vista, or a 3rd party media server on your PC in the house, you can access them from your PS3. Music and Photos stream from my PC nicely, but if I want to do Movies (like big movies, digital copies of DVDs or movies purchase through itunes) I have to copy them over cause my stream over wireless is horrible. Simply running some cat6 to a jack in the wall behind my tv and going wired connection to the PS3 would most likely fix this.

You say you wont play any games on it, but just like me,... wait and see. download Burnout Paradise from the PS store (inexpensive game). Its fun. You can try to beat my Showtime Wreck Scores!

 

Yea, I run a wireless mouse and keyboard for typing and nonsense along with a bluetooth mic (same one I use for my phone) on the ps3 too.

It's pretty much a computer, movie player, gaming system rolled into one.

 

Anyone have a walk thru on installling Linux