o.k. I am just one of the many people that is in this fishbowl of a world. Meaning, I am not getting paid for this review, & am not an employee of the store. Oh, but several strikes against me for being a female, & knowing my way around computers ; just I would never attempt to replace the jack on a laptop. Btw, I don't have a mustache, am petite, Caucasian, shower daily, don't wear thick glasses, & have fashion sense. Who would have thought ! Meaning the fact that I am a geek & female writing this doesn't mean that I fit into these nice little stereotypes that the world has created for all of us. Also, for the record, I don't over-react & am not over emotional, thank you very much. Beyond that ,I want to scream at the people leaving negative reviews. They must be from competitor stores or something. This store, in Santa Clara is incredible. I have both bought a hard drive & exchanged it ( sometimes stores just get bad parts , or things that should work but don't ), & had them replace my jack on my laptop, after my housemate got upset & removed it ( btw, he is a straight male ; talk about emotional ! ) . In any case, Best Buy wanted 89.00 deposit, 189.00 on top of that, & would have had my laptop for two weeks ! This store had it done in 4 days & on a holiday weekend to boot ! Not to mention, the store was jam packed with people on Friday ! After seeing the hoard of people on Friday, I thought for sure they would need two weeks. But I got it back in 4 days ! & I am sorry, but the customer service is * excellent *. Again any negative reviews had to be from competitor stores. Never did I wait more than a minute , at longest. & no, not because I am some super model. Not only that, but they have never given me this attitude like some of the guys at Best Buy. At Best Buy, I got the " you are a female treatment & look like a ditz. " Here, I never ever felt like the fact that I am female made them treat me any differently. They were never condescending , & always treated me like I have a brain. On that note, everyone that works at this store that I have met is knowledgeable & everyone is bright. Moreover, for you negative reviewers, WAKE UP. Even if this place was not fabulous ( which it is ), EVERYONE is HUMAN. You don't know what goes on behind the scenes, or what store policies may be ; what employees may have to contend with in the form of their boss, what they are told to say, any limits they have been placed under by management, or my heavens ; maybe even there might be some nepotism going on , or some brown nosing employee, that is two faced, causing problems. We all have had horrible bosses, been told to say things that were just not right to say, & have all had to deal with nepotism or two faced brown nosing coworkers at some point ! However, no matter what is going on behind the scenes that we don't see, these people are extraordinary. If there is stuff going on behind the scenes, you would never know. Seriously, as long as the employees are there that have been there for the last month , I will only go to this store for anything I need done, or need, unless , for some reason, they don't carry the item. So far, they seem to have everything I have been looking for though. Before I end this, I wanted to add these people go way above & beyond the call of duty as well. Note to store manager or owner ; do * not * fire any of the employees that were there today , the 26th of April 2011, or any of the employees that have been there for the last month. They are a super bunch of people. But, please do make sure your tech person makes decent money, is treated well, & gets plenty of rest, because he is your only tech guy that is qualified to do the work you need done right now. No, he didn't tell me to write that, & that what i wrote should not cause you to think twice about him. Again, you need to keep all the employees that were there today, & that have been there for the last month. They are an amazing group of people. Thanks ! read more

Terrible Service and Untrustworthy Repair - Avoid Central Computers I had an incredibly disappointing experience with Central Computers. After an accidental water spill on my Lenovo Yoga laptop, I brought it in for repair because it wasn't turning on. A day or two later, I received a call informing me that a chip on the motherboard needed to be replaced, costing $260. I authorized the repair, hoping to get my laptop back in working condition. When I went to pick up the laptop, I noticed an immediate issue: the keyboard was not assembled correctly. The keys around the enter key were jammed, and none of the keys were working. I reported this on the spot and asked them to fix it. A few days later, they called back, claiming that the keyboard was also damaged due to water damage and asked for an additional $300. This was absolutely unacceptable. First, they should have identified any keyboard issues during their initial diagnostics. Secondly, when I handed over the laptop, the keyboard was working perfectly-- it was practically brand new, only about six months old. What's clear to me is that the keyboard issue was caused by their mishandling during the repair, not by water damage. This is an assembly issue, not something related to the spill. After this, I completely lost trust in their service. I decided to take my laptop back, but when I got it home, I found that some keys were working while others weren't (stuck as mentioned before), making the laptop almost unusable. In short, Central Computers destroyed my laptop and charged me $260 for the privilege. I'm left with a broken device and a lot of frustration. I would strongly advise anyone considering their services to look elsewhere. read more

I had an outstanding experience at Computer Central and felt compelled to share just how impressed I was with their service. I came in searching for a Type 5 SATA power supply cable--a surprisingly hard-to-find item that none of the other stores I visited had in stock. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much luck at this point, but that quickly changed the moment I walked into Computer Central. Right away, I was greeted and assisted by a staff member named Roman. He was incredibly attentive and immediately took the time to help me search for the exact cable I needed. Although it initially seemed like they didn't have it in stock, Roman didn't stop there. He went above and beyond by checking with his colleagues to see if there might be any alternatives or spare inventory available. A few minutes later, Roman came back--with the cable in hand! He had tracked down a spare from their internal stock and made it available to me. That level of dedication and willingness to go the extra mile is something you just don't see often anymore. Thanks to Roman's persistence and excellent customer service, I left the store with exactly what I needed--and a great impression of Computer Central. If you're looking for knowledgeable staff and a team that truly cares about helping customers, this is the place to go. Highly recommended! read more

Not really what I was expecting when I walked in here. Immediately asked the associate behind the register to point me to the direction of where they might have resistors. Directed to the back corner and not a single resistor in sight, diodes only, huh. No capacitors either, not much of a circuit board component store if you're needing to make a simple electronic repair. Not like the old Frys or Quements electronics store that had all the basic necessities. I didn't take much time looking around due to a time constraint, but did notice technicians meticulously working in cubicles repairing/building computer related components. Will revisit and revise this review when I'm in need of "computer" memory, accessories and/or repairs beyond my grasp. Ample parking and the entrance, both at the rear of the building. read more

You may want to reconsider buying CPU's and Motherboards here. I build computers for many. I have been sending people to Central Computers for parts...with not so good results on 2 computers. The CPU's were defective and Central tried to convince the customers that they were damaged by the install. I took the CPU's to AMD and they replaced them on the spot saying they were defective. So, Central likes to make sales, but doesn't really stand by any of the products they sell. Central Computers didn't even try to get the manufacturer's Rep involved. I had a talk with the manager, but it went nowhere. You would be safer buying CPU's and Motherboards from somewhere else...that has a return policy. Central doesn't do returns on CPU's...even if they are defective. The blame instead. read more

First and last time purchasing from Central Computers. I bought some computer fans and paid $34.15 for expedited 2-day shipping charge. I received the items after 4 business days and reached out about the delay and that the service level paid for was not fulfilled. Their only response was to blame it on the the carrier. I understand that weather may impact carriers; however, the shipping contract and payment were made directly with Central Computers. I wouldn't purchase anything from this company again. They charge $17+ for Standard Shipping (4-6 days), and additional prices $$$$ for faster shipping services that they don't hold any responsibility. read more

This is the best computer store around. Most of the staff is knowledgeable, and they are all helpful. They may not have as large of a variety as Frys, but if they do not carry what you want, they will order it. There prices are usually only beaten by the internet, but there is still something to be said for seeing the actual product. They will open any box to show the actual part, let you test it, so you can be sure that its the right one. I switched my company to use them, and their level of service has kept us going back for the past 5 years. Don't forget to pick up a preferred customer card, usually save about 5% - 10%. read more

Good selection of computer accessories, but the computer parts themselves are not all very high quality. If you really wanted to build a PC you're much better off ordering the parts online and building it yourself. This place isn't very large either so you might not find what you are looking for. That being said the employees here did know their stuff and were helpful overall. I bought a new HDD for work and got a pretty good deal for it. It's an okay place to go for some electronic stuff I guess. read more

Central Computers is now what Fry's was 30 years ago: A Tech Supermarket. Everything is out and visible. Products are logically grouped together. Sales associates are knowledgeable. I came in looking to build a new computer. PeterN walked with me through the store, we went down 3 aisles and I had everything I needed. No pressure, no running back and forth, unnecessary no upsell, got me exactly what I was looking for, in and out ASAP. Excellent service from PeterN read more

I want to thank Sim for helping me out when I had lost some of my drivers for my Ethernet and Bus that kept me from getting accessing the internet. Sim went out of his way to load the drivers onto my my USB thumb drive. He made it so easy to self install. This saved me a big trip home and back with my computer. I have purchased my last 3 computers from them. They have the best computers at a reasonable price and the best service bar none! Thank you! read more

Made an account just to leave this. Derek and the team at Santa Clara identified and fixed a problem in no time flat that had been holding up my new build for so long. Not to mention I had been able to find several of my seemingly always out-of-stock parts for my computer at various CCs throughout the past few months. There should be no question that it makes more sense to get what you need here instead of Newegg etc. read more

I've been a regular customer at Central Computer, although lately I have been going to their Sunnyvale location because it's closer to my work. Central has always been a reliable source of computer parts and help for me. Prices are always competitive and the service is consistently much better than at Frys!! I'll continue coming to Central for a long time. read more

I think this is the best place to get computer stuff in the Bay Area. They are pretty big but not as big as Fry's and Best Buy, but they specialize in all computer stuff. I like this place because it is an independent and not all corporate so the people are a little more friendly and knowleagable. Most stuff is cheaper here also. read more

I am one of persons who just have to give the impression of being cross eyed at a computer and it goes bonkers. I had a problem with my central processing unit and I do not know much about this equipment but basically my monitor was friend and my computer was running successively and so powerfully. read more

I have dropped my laptop there for more than two months. Every time I called the shop, it kept asking for more time. They kept saying two more week. Now it has been more than two months. I called back again today and they still asking for two more weeks. I am done with this shop. Worst service. read more

Central computers offers competitive prices to even frys and newegg! What I like about their stores is that they're less crowded and have helpful people! I definitely recommend Central computers! read more

This place is a joke. Found what I needed one time I went there but other times I was treated like an idiot and the people working there were rude and cocky! read more

They had so many parts for my PC build! I decided to build a 2000$ PC build and Central Computers had almost every part I needed for a great deal, like 3080s. read more

been shopping here since 2001. staff knows their stuff and are very friendly.