Turn Your PS3 into a PC

That’s right. On top of being a gaming console, a Blu-ray DVD and media player and, in the future, an online virtual environment, Sony’s Playstation 3 can also be converted to a fully functional PC.

Popular Mechanics has provided a simple guide for the hack, along with a sweepstakes to win one of these modded PS3s.

With the amount of power under its hood via its much lauded cell-processor and custom graphics processor, it’s comparable to many other PCs. Best of all, the directions seem relatively straightforward: with a memory backup, a new hard drive, and a bit of finagling, your PS3 can give you all the functionality of a regular PC. One caveat though: because it can’t run Vista or OSX, the operating system must be Linux based—the editors at Popular Mechanics chose Ubuntu. The upside, though, is the fact that this in no way voids the warranty: even swapping and reformatting the hardware seems to be well within bounds of the warranty. So if you’re handy with a screwdriver and know a thing or two about computers, this is a great way to add tons of value to the sizeable investment in your PS3.