I often stop in here to pick up odds and ends for our IT guy. This place is an amazing throwback to an earlier era of retail. Apparently its like mecca to nerds. Don't expect bestbuy or Frys. If you know your way around the cavernous warehouse it is pretty awesome. Sometimes it can be overwhelming if you don't know exactly what it is you are looking for, but the staff is generally very helpful if you can get their attention. read more

My computer automatically updated Windows 10 and, once it finished, I could not log in. I took it to BestBuy but because the battery was starting to expand, they would not work on it. I took it to Central Computers and two days later I had all my data recovered, and for only $29 + $14 for the hard drive where they transferred my data to. It felt like a miracle, at a miraculous price. I cannot recommend this store highly enough. Thank you, Rick, you saved my life! read more

Not much support, but they had a great selection of case fans which I needed to replace a loud one that was annoying me. Good to find this place when you want something fast and don't want to pay for shipping from some mail order place. Looked like a lot of computer nerds browsing around in here and that gives me confidence to go back for more of my component needs in the future. read more

I was referred to this place by another salesman at Bestbuy. There is a great selection of Asus motherboards. I am a big fan of Asus, and this is the place where you find a good selection of stuff. At the time, I was getting ready to build a second computer with a friend. We got most of our parts here, and the price is reasonable. A few occasion, I ran into in a deal for a sata drive, and computer cover. The staff is pretty knowledgable about computers and is willing to help if asked. They ran a test to make sure all the parts were in working order. I haven't used their repair service, so I wouldnt be able to give a review on that. But, overall its been a good experience for me. read more

Not exactly intimate but easily the best computer store in the area. They do a good job on building computers as well including a gaming laptop for a friend of mine he hasn't stopped raving about. I'm glad places like this can still exist and pay rent in San Francisco. read more

I had a really good experience here! I came because I saw the company reviewed on Yelp and had heard of it before. I wasn't expecting to get any service at all; I figured this was the kind of place where you need to know exactly what you want. I was pleasantly surprised. The man who helped me asked all the right questions and told me not to open one of the products until I got home and made sure it was the right one. I bought a USB wireless adapter and an ink cartridge for my printer. I asked about wireless file transfer and he told me how to do it. read more

I hired Central Computer PC support folks to put together a PC for me. Require three trips to finally receive get my PC installed and working correctly. One of the trips I was refused quality service without a receipt with no method to lookup previous work orders. I recommend going elsewhere better support and service or do it yourself. read more

Not impressed. Someone recommended them to me to get my computer fixed. I called and the guy practically hung up on me. I guess I didn't know what I wanted enough. He even asked me to call back later to talk to the one guy who does repairs. Uh, nevermind. I'll find someone with some people skills, thanks. read more

I went to this store and i needed help. I am a older man. This young man helped with what i wanted his name is Victor Yi this young man helped me with all my needs. So i just want to say Thank You. Good Job. read more

This place gets mixed reviews and deservedly so. If you know NOTHING at all about computers and walk into this store you may be intimidated by the brusk manner of the glorified helpdesk technicians. If you know a little about computers you may think of it as a fairyland toystore with the cutting edge 'warez' @ below market price. 75% bad attitude of techy cashiers turn me off to this joint. I will often avoid it if i REALLY need parts. Just head down Mission to Sweet Mem mainly... Overall: sucky attitude & moderate prices will do in a pinch but definitely NOT THE MONEY SHOT! Kirk out, baby read more

HOLY SHIT THESE GUYS ARE GOOD! I contracted a virus that seemed to destroy EVERYTHING on my computer. Every single document, photo, program, and song was gone. I was like, "fuck." Then I brought it here. They fixed it with magic or alchemy or something. It cost $130. AMAZING. read more

Best computer stores in the Bay Area. Excellent selection at very good prices. Repair service and custom systems available. Recommended.

I just want to thank Peter for helping me with my new tower case purchase. Not only did he hand truck it to my apartment at no extra cost (who knew customer service still existed?), but he was able to offer me advice on more ways to upgrade my current PC build. That's something you can't get when ordering online. Would definitely recommend this place! read more

I ordered a couple products online and it soon became a nightmare. Craig at the Southbay store has been working with me to get the order resolved. However, Dan a clerk at the SF store is NOT customer-service oriented. I went in today and he was supposed to be checking my order. Soon after he started helping another customer. He did not seem to have any clue regarding customer service or retention. Finally, another clerk name Peter took the time to give me some good information on comparable products and bubble wrapped my order. I'm rating this as two stars because this situation could have been easily avoided. I've shopped at the SF store a number of times and the customer service is hit and miss. I agree with the other reviews, some of the guys seem to know what they're talking about and others seem to care less. They often have some good sales, so if I return I'll be sure to keep away from certain store clerks. I'll stick to Best Buy and Frys for most of my electronic purchases. read more

Overpriced useless parts. Terrible customer service. Go to amazon or anywhere else

Since there is no Fry's north of Palo Alto, and people look at you funny up here if you mention "halted" or "weird stuff" -- Central Computer is pretty much all there is for random computer part purchases. read more

Good place to go if you need something immediately. Their prices can't match what you find online but they're usually a little bit cheaper than most big box stores. And this is the only place I know that will special order a $1.50 item. Awesome! read more

Used to love this place until they baited and switched me on some video cards (sold me ones they didn't have in stock, requested more money and offered poorer cards when I arrived) and unapologetically held $700 dollars of mine hostage for 6 days without providing any products I had paid for. Now a week later they have refunded me without responding to any emails. read more

This place a gem. I used to go check out new PC games and hardware at Egghead or CDW and Central Computers is a total throwback to those days. Lots of cool stuff here if you're into nerdy things. Also Tony replaced my Thinkpad LCD for a totally reasonable rate! Thanks Central Comps!! read more

My laptop would not turn on and after calling Mac help and going through all their suggestions,which did not work, I took my laptop to Central. I was in and out in 5 min. they knew exactly what was wrong, fixed the problem and did not even charge me. Super nice and competent employees. I will definetly go back. read more

I am simply ASTOUNDED at Central Computers * I have shopped here for 5 years, spent thousands of dollars and built at least 6 computers from purchased parts. * My visit today will be my last. Thank you to the 20-something young counter boy - you really went out of your way today to be a ZERO * The complete lack of ANY sense of customer service truly boggles the mind. Rude, arrogant, disorganized and a palatable disdain for the customer. * People ...do yourself a favor www.newegg.com OR www.Tigerdirect.com (no tax and free shipping AND better prices!!!) * It will be a day of rainbows and puppies when Fry's finally get it together and opens up in SF and we can rid ourselves of these low lifes. read more

Fast save of my dying computer and only $29 service fee.

Good prices. Employees are always helpful and attentive. They are better with pcs than macs, but they still make the effort. Once I installed some ram badly, I went to the apple store and they didn't want to help me because I wasn't using apple ram, then they said I had burnt the new ram out. The guys at cc looked at it and fixed the ram install (it wasn't fried!) I didn't buy the ram from them either, but they helped anyway! read more

Wow. Prices were unbelievably great on some things, like 1,000' of Cat6 for less than half of what it was in bulk at Lowe's and Home Depot. They had in stock adapters that I've never even seen before, but that fixed my problem in a jiffy. The guys were so helpful and went the extra mile to be certain I had what I needed. Totally five stars. read more

It was Sunday and there was a power outage in my neighborhood. When the power was back, despite my computer being on a surge protector, it wouldn't power up. Now remember, it's Sunday. I was able to get a tech to come to my house. He said it was the power supply. Fortunately, Central Computer was open on Sunday and had the right one in stock. Great. But that's not the best part. My tech installed the power supply and STILL it wouldn't boot up and he didn't know what to do. I called Central Computer and they said that they'd look at it while I wait!!!! Wing, the fantastic tech had it fixed in an hour. Genius, he somehow divined that the bios had been corrupted, a very not-obvious problem. Total charge: $59. I bowed my head to him with respect and gratitude. read more

I come here because they are always up to date with iphone accessories, and very cheap. Staff here are nice and helpful.

My laptop crashed on a Saturday night - I went to Central Computer on Sunday late morning and was immediately assisted by a friendly employee - gave em the laptop and a $29.00 deposit - likely a fix that will cost a total of $139 - power issues - 7-10 days as they will send it off site. Monday at 9:30am I answered a call from an employee telling me he had fixed the problem on site - cpu was fine and ready. With the understanding it could take 7 days, I was obviously pleased. What makes this a GREAT experience - they didn't charge me the 139 - which based on what I filled out and signed on Sunday- their contract- they had every right to charge me. "Took me 10 minutes - $29 is great" Honesty and helping the consumer in our current economy. read more

Beware of "bargains", and hold on to your receipts! I've occasionally found functional or name-brand stuff cheap at Central. They also have aisles of generic "no-name" equipment for far less than the equivalent name brand... lightning cables, etc for much less than the Apple Store. Well, often, you'll get exactly what you pay for, which in this case means it will literally fall apart within weeks. It's a bad enough problem that it's fair to call Central a rip-off joint, at least on the cheaper stuff. If you buy anything with a mini-USB jack on it, that jack will just fall out, right around the 30-day defective exchange limit... usually slightly afterwards. Last month I bought a $10 USB-to-lightning adapter that simply fell apart in less than 2 weeks, and spend $32 on an admittedly really nice ipad mini bluetooth keyboard case which lasted just over a month before the charging jack just fell out. A few days after the 30-day exchange limit, the usb jack just fell out of the keyboard. So last month alone I paid almost $45 for equipment that just fell apart on me and now needs to be replaced. This has also happened in the past... about 2 years ago they had really good deals on iPhone external battery cases, and the USB jack just fell out of mine within weeks, and when I exchanged it, the USB jack fell out of the replacement within weeks also. No more. You can actually get cabling & adapters there pretty cheap, but venture beyond that and the rip-offs that just fall apart in a few weeks will counterbalance whatever you saved by going there. I've had good luck with their inexpensive drive enclosures, etc. Just stick with stuff that has a brand name on the packaging and you might do ok. UPDATE: Ok, I went down there even though the keyboard was 3 days past the 30 day warrantee. The guy grumbled - A LOT - but let me exchange the case for another of the same one, I know from experience with these guys that the charging jack is just going to fall out of this one in a few weeks, but I'll try to glue it in place before then, or something. Anyway, I'll reluctantly raise them to 3 stars since they replaced it 2 whole days out of warrantee. Still would rather not be repeatedly sold things that fall apart. read more

Candy helped me find exactly what I needed. The item I originally came in for was out of stock, but after she asked me a couple questions about what I needed it for, she suggested an alternative that was even cheaper. The drive enclosure worked just fine and I know I saved money. I'll be back for all my computer needs in the future! read more

You know it's bad when they make Frys look good. This store makes me wish there was a Frys closer than Palo Alto. The service here is abysmal and rude; the prices aren't even close to competitive, and the selection - what selection? If you have to have a part RIGHT NOW they might have it, but if you can wait, it's worth going to Frys or ordering from Newegg.com. read more

This place is rock solid. I live a few blocks away and had a virus on my computer recently, so I brought it in. Cost me $129 out the door, which is more than $100 cheaper than Best Buy. They are not the most personal bunch, and their English is not very good, but their honest and they know computers. I'd go back with any problem or if I need updates... read more

The staff were helpful and gave sound advice. The store is not upscale and fancy, but seems to have just about everything you could ever need for your computer. read more

I came into the store frantic because my hard drive was dead, embarrassed because I didn't know the first thing about hard drives and stressed because I was worries about pricing. The employees were so kind, directed me to a drive that was on sale and gifted an install of the drive! Generous, patient and knowledgable. I'll definitely be coming back here...hopefully in a better emotional state :) read more

A great resource for tweakers and do it your selfers. They may not have everything, but when you are doing it yourself you often have unpredictable things pop up in middle of the process. This store provides a perfect solution for taking care of those needs quickly so you can get on with your project. I needed a longer HDMI cable (10') for the home theater pc I am building. Went to Radio Shack and they wanted $80 for the cable. Went to Central Computer and picked up one that I am happier with for $24. I haven't bought a complete system here so I am not sure how they are for those purchases. I am guessing a little more than the box store, but you should get a more thorough and more knowledgeable experience out of it. read more

So a quick background. I am very technically savvy and I usually do most of my purchases online through Newegg or if I need stuff last minute, I would drive down to Fry's in Palo Alto to pick up anything that I need for my computers at home and for work. Now to last Saturday. I was in the middle of a desktop upgrade at home and I realized that I needed a 2.5" to 3.5" mount to proceed. Since I was in the Union Square area for a client (you can bet your iDevice that the Apple store won't be stocking what I needed), I figured I would look for stores on Yelp that may have what I was looking for, and after doing a few searches, I settled on Central Computers and gave them a call to see if they had the part I needed. Sure enough, they did, and I was only a few blocks away at this point, so I walked over to the store. Boy was I pleasantly surprised! Not only do they offer just about everything that I would ever need, their prices were very reasonable and the gentleman that helped me was very helpful in getting me everything that I needed, and even saved me a few bucks by having me buy one part instead of two as I had planned to. I also got to browse their store around for a bit and they seem to be a full service shop in addition to selling parts. I ended up buying a few more items for my computer than originally intended and went home to finish the computer build. Fast forward another hour. In the middle of my computer build, I noticed that one of the screws for the CPU cooler was missing, and it is a very important piece that I needed to mount the cooler, so I drove back to Central Computers and ask the same guy if he would be able to help me out. Long story short-he was able to get me the missing screw I needed from another box and do a return/replace in the system without me having to bring back the original box (I did have to present me receipt from earlier). I will have to say that my first experience with Central Computers will make me not only a repeat customer for my personal stuff, but I will be using them for my business as well! Thank you Central Computers! read more

As others have pointed out, customer service is not their forte. They've got a decent selection, and decent prices... but most of the staff that's there would simply rather not be there and it shows. I walked in this evening to buy a USB to serial adapter. Correction, a USB to 9 pin serial adapter. Correction a USB to DB-9 adapter. Guy at the counter still had no clue what I was talking to, but tried to guide me somewhere. Instead of rephrasing his instructions he kept talking louder and slower, and louder, and slower. Ugh. Another employee finally helped me, and guided me to an adapter with some other junk I didn't need (parallel port adapter) thrown in. I guided myself to the cheapest one, the second employee rang me up. Turned out that it was even more expensive than the most expensive one listed. We went back, and found a cheaper one... at which point I was told to go ask someone else to ring me up. Mister first employee rang me up, quoted me the same higher than marked price, and demanded ID. I placed the adapter on the counter, got my bag, went home, and ordered the damn thing from newegg. Even after paying sales tax and shipping, I saved a few bucks buying from newegg. read more

Really quick service and good advice on systems. I have my laptop working faster with an increase of 8GB ram. He adviced me to put my Mac to factory reset mode myself, since they charge minimum of $29 ... I saved some money being a student! read more

I would give these guys 6 stars if I could. I had to visit them on 3 occasions in the past 6 days to trouble shoot some issues with my Macbook because I was trying to play Ms. Tech Savvy when I'm not :-(. All 3 times they were very polite, helpful and knowledgeable. The prices were affordable (especially compared to the prices I checked at Best Buy) and I appreciated them discussing the various options with me to ensure I was getting what I needed at the price I could afford. That's why I keep coming back here; because I have a positive experience every time. I have to give a special thank you to Peter who helped me pick out and install a new hard drive, and also helped me "unstick" my RAM. I tried to change the RAM myself but ended up jamming it in the slot. I mean I jammed it really, really good. Several people tried before and could not get it out. Not only was Peter able to get it out without damaging it, but he also showed me how to put it in properly in the event I ever needed to remove it again (Not me! I'm staying away from my laptop innards!). So helpful and empowering :-) And he did it for free! So Central Computers = Happy Me, happy Macbook! It was such a pleasant experience that I bought them cream puffs to say thank you. Thank you guys, you rock! Hope you enjoyed the cream puffs :-) read more

I needed a new AC adapter for my Dell Laptop and decided to drop in. After browsing throughout the store for awhile I found the part I needed and proceeded to the register. The service was friendly and easy going and the prices were reasonably fair, plus I didn't have to wait an extra 7-10 days on shipping. I may need to go back to pick up some software read more

Central Computers is our go to place for any kind of cable and adapter. It's conveniently located downtown near most of our clients so that is a big plus. The prices are very reasonable too. read more