Bit Chat: Tim Allen

From techtv

The hot-rod hobbyist would trade in his Mac only for a souped-up, high-performance PC.

Tim Allen has only one complaint with “The Screen Savers.” We need a TSS version of Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor, a loose cannon, a PC speed-freak who pushes for “more power” regardless of the risk of losing both his thumbs in an overclocking mishap. Didn’t he see Yoshi getting tasered or Patrick sticking his hand in a Jacob’s ladder? How much dumber can we get?

Watch Martin’s interview with Allen on Wednesday’s episode of "The Screen Savers” to hear about Allen’s affinity for all things Apple and what it was like to meet his idol of innovation, Steve Jobs. As always, you can watch the full, unedited interview footage by clicking on the link in the video highlight box.

Silicon Valley Santa In his two Christmas comedies, The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2, Allen’s Saint Nick is in charge of a decidedly low tech toy factory that churns out dolls (that don’t talk), hobby horses (that don’t require six AA batteries), and stuffed teddy bears with absolutely no trace of embedded Ethernet hubs.

But that’s only one side of the Santa story, Allen says. In reality, the North Pole is covered with a whole complex of toy factories, each with its own specialty. For security reasons, Allen’s film crew wasn’t allowed inside the high tech toy factory.

“They are so far ahead of you,” Allen says. “They’ve got stuff you can’t even see yet.” Like what? Nanotechnology, hologram storage devices, the works. And with the subzero North Pole weather, who needs liquid nitrogen?

Mac man (for now) Like all respectable Mac-obsessed celebs, Allen has a “guy” at Apple that keeps him in the know of the latest Mac developments. But sometimes it’s not easy to squeeze out the info. “It’s like the CIA there,” Allen jokes.

Allen obtained his coveted insider status after working on the two Toy Story movies for Pixar, which is owned by Apple. But he has been a loyal Mac man for a long time. Allen’s got nothing against PCs, but he feels like they’ve always been one step behind Apple, especially in terms of basic usability. “The [PC] interface is always catching up to Apple,” he says.

That’s not to say that Allen isn’t enticed by the prospect of a superfast, high-performance PC. What he’s looking for is a company that sells premade, souped-up machines that are like the hot-rod kits you can buy for cars. According to our resident mod master, Yoshi, there aren’t any companies that fit that description. But here are a few of the best PC-modding resources for building your own hot-rod machine:

• HardOCP
• Xoxide
• PC-Mod
• ExoticPC
• Alienware

Case modding without the work

Read Yoshi’s article on pre-modded PC cases to get a head start on your own customized machine.

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