These guys are great. I have purchased two different custom computers from them, and each time the build was great, the flexibility was terrific, and the reliability was fine. They even took my solid state drive, installed it as the primary disk drive in the new computer, then installed Windows on the solid state drive and used my existing license code to make it all legal. Once I made the mistake of messing with the BIOS and had to take it in again. They fixed it under warranty even though it was my fault. Their technical expertise vastly exceeds what you'll find at big box stores. Great stuff! read more

I bought my first computer years ago from these folks in San Jose and thought they were great - very friendly & helpful. I went into the new San Mateo store to buy a replacement monitor. (Not for that first computer BTW.) There were at least 3 and possibly 5 employees not waiting on customers. I walked all around their case of monitors and stood around briefly. I was absolutely ignored, not even eye contact. I bought my new monitor from Amazon. I would rather have spent the money locally. Oh well. read more

Introduced to the store 3 years ago and it has become my go-to tech place. Ask for David at the front desk. He's one of those guys that actually says "I don't know, but let me find out" ... and does! read more

The Technical Support Department at Central Computers in San Mateo is the only place to take your computer if you are having problems, or if you find yourself in need of an upgrade. Chris Vincent, is the most knowledgeable person I have found when it comes to computer components and systems. He is thorough and tenacious when it comes to finding the cause of the problem and coming up with a solution. He is also very good at listening to what you want in a custom computer and recommending what you need that falls within your budget. He has often demonstrated that if he doesn't know the solution right then, he will research the problem until he finds a solution. I live just south of Sacramento, but if I need anything for my computer I still make the drive to San Mateo, because I don't want anyone but Chris to work on my computers. read more

I should have reviewed this place a year ago when I first went in after buying a refurbished MacBook Pro and was helped tremendously with buying the right items. I've been in there a number of times for random cables and parts but what I wish I could give a 10 star review is to Ray. I remembered him being very knowledgable about all things Apple when I first went in and had been spending 3 days straight at the Apple store in Burlingame trying to figure out a hardrive issue. Anyway - a year later, my computer sound stopped playing through the head set port and then the sound was super quiet on the speakers. I was so upset and was about to send it back under warranty but on a whim thought - "let me see if that guy might have an idea." In less than 15 seconds (literally) he fixed the issue. The amount of pain and frustration he saved me is invaluable. And Ray dropped a bunch of other useful tips and info on me about Apple products to help my battery life and device performance. Before you buy an Apple product that isn't brand new from Apple - go here, find Ray and get his opinion and advice on what to do. Thank you , Central Computers! you've had my business over Amazon because of this guy for the past year! I feel like I am getting the right item for what I need every time! read more

I call up the store and asked one of the techs if going with a solid state hard drive. Was good to go with in my PC since I had explain that my main boot drive was out of space. So he recommended A few manufactures Corsair, Samsung and I believe the other one was Kingston. All manufacturers that I'm very familiar with and I've used their products in the past. So I asked him what manufacture he recommended he told me that Samsung makes a good product in their 850 series and they last up to 10 years. Now all this information was all well and good now I continue to explain doing that I have a 500 GB hard drive and something smaller than that wouldn't work out. So he explained to me that your Samsung the larger hard drive are a lot more expensive. When I asked him about imaging he gave me this whole thing it would be better to use other sophomores other than ghost. Now being that he didn't know then I was a tech myself and have been for many years didn't realize my knowledge. In one of the things said he may want to research before giving out knowledge about imaging is that. You don't necessarily have to boot into some imaging software to imaging another drive. I just wanted to point out that you can use ghost a image from a magnetic disk on to a Windows PC then dump the image from Windows PC onto the new disc in this goes for all hard drives including solid-state hard drive's. read more

Spectacular returns policy -- the counter staff could not have been more friendly or helpful!

Walked in and asked at the counter. Young sales guy, was helpful. They didn't have the part I was looking for, but I asked him about a full replacement piece. Then, he took me over to them, got me the right replacement, I even offered to pay more, but he gave me direct info that led to the cheapest item actually being the best for my computer. Saved me a lot of time and trouble because the full replacement piece was actually cheaper than buying all the stuff I would have need to try to repair it myself. read more

dont bring your computer here this is the worst of the worst will not return call keep my computer for over a week said call back if you need help call and left mess 4 time no call back. dont go there . going to take them to court read more

Great staff, everyone I have spoken to is either knowledgeable, or smart enough to introduce me to someone who knows just what I need. Good range of products from the cheap and obscure to the mainstream brands for "casual" users. read more

Recently I built a desktop with top quality components all ordered from Amazon. After working very well several months. It won't boot up at all. I went to CC, and hope some techies give me some useful advices where could be wrong, i am telling you truth, every time i asked any of technical staffs at CC, they are patient and helpful, and free of charge. they gave me a advice and I went home, tried it, did not work, i went back again, another advice, did not work still. Finally, i decided i would bring in my rig, and let them test my suspicious Corsair TX650 PSU, and see if it is the real cost of booting failure or not. They helped me hook up a testing device to th PSU, and found out it is a bad unit, and i was real happy to find out the reason, and asked how much they would charge me for this diagnosis. To my surprise, it was free! Later on, i exhanged the bad PSU directly from Corsair, and now my desktop work like a charm again. I am really thankful with the services from CC. Highly recommend to any of my friend. read more

4 month old Lenovo Yoga 2, 2015 model needed memory upgrade. Purchased from Best Buy. They were unable to correctly ID the upgrade to the LGT128M5G hard drive. My better sense took me to experts at Central Computer in San Mateo today. After downloading info from me on difficulities w/ change in this model from 2014 to 2015, they gave me a quote of 2 days &$ 350-400 to upgrade. they had 2 alternative drives in stock from Crucial , my choice. at excellent internet prices. Reading the blogs thing change out and data load are tricky and time consuming ..Bottom line: work was done in only 2 hours! upgraded to crucial 500GM using MX200 500gb sata type ssd.. Materials & labor only$315. Machine now has 3x open memory, works perfectly This is an excellent shop and group of knowledgable stff! I highly recommend them. Next time I buy my computers from them. I had exccellent experience last year also. They are the go to guys and prices are fair. read more

I walked in needing to buy three items: a usb cable, and hdmi switch, and an iphone cable. I walk in and a couple employees are nearby, none greeted me, which is cool people are busy I get that. I was having trouble finding the right USB cable so I decide to ask for help, BIG Mistake. Two employees are behind the counter, and as I approach I can hear them talking about Batman vs. Starlord, and some Jet Li Jackie Chan movie one of them didn't like. I asked one of them (a "plus size" short haired older Hispanic man) if they could show me where to find a USB network cable and he looks at me like I have two heads and points behind me and says "Right there." Then proceeds to continue his important conversation. I look where he pointed and find a locked case with the cables inside. I decide to ask a different employee for help and he too looks very annoyed. A little customer service goes a LONG way, so I decided to take my business elsewhere, to Best Buy. I'd rather spend a little more there because THEY actually have customer service. I will never shop here again. read more