Central Computers

The workers were very kind, helped us straight on. The store had everything, really nice.

Shout out to Norman who got our PC working!!

We decided to build a PC around a 4090 graphics card from Best Buy and got everything else (minus the CPU, 2TB M.2, and graphics card from BB) from here with help from Rohan. Prices are fair, about consistent with Amazon, don't mind paying the price diff to support local. This store is also awesome because it's a physical store with actual people who know about PCs.

Took a whole day to put everything together, booted up, but there was no video. We went back here to see if they could help troubleshoot the problem. Norman instantly was able to pinpoint our problem back to the CPU, he took it out and lo and behold: it was a faulty CPU from BB that we had bought *new* in store. LESSON LEARNED - stuff from BB is susss.
Unfortunately, the next day we experienced games freezing on start-up, wasn't able to run anything, so we brought it back, with some troubleshooting we're *pretty* sure it was the graphics card (if you'll recall, we ALSO got this from BB...), as putting in CC's (low-end) card was able to run the same game it crashed consistently on. We ended up getting a graphics card here. We also did a BIOS update which SEEMS to have fixed all the problems.

Fingers crossed!!

Company refused multiple orders from lines of credit regardless of credit worthiness because of their "chargeback insurance". Basically they refuse to let you protect yourself incase of a mishandling on their end. It sounds like they have had a lot of customers charge back for poor eccomerence service so now they don't accept anything but cash. I was asked to zelle them, extremely shady. I suggest you read reviews and look elsewhere.

They just fix stuff right. Click away blows chunks. They fixed a rig I didn't have time or parts to troubleshoot. Will return again and again.

I just heard a student ask an employee about Wi-Fi cards and adapters. He told them they didn't have what he was looking for. About 20 minutes later they start shit talking all about his question and how "don't they teach these kids anything these days in school?" "They just take a class so they can get the ba/mb." "What do they learn?? Java is so dead now C++ barely anyone..." and then rambles.



I'll use Amazon no problem I'm noob at this so I think now that I've heard that I'm done with place.

Edit: I know what I hears and they were talking about the student in complete disregard that he was still there. The long brown hair with glasses even awkwardly made himself sound superior in the mock scenario..

And even if they were talking about themselves was that really appropriate to talk shit about students now in society in general??? Is that a real good image for a dying breed of tech specialty stores we need to keep alive? Youth brings our community together yet here our students in San Jose are ONLY going for their BA/MA and they know nothing.

Thanks!

Central Computers is a resilient computer parts store. Other retailers like Fry's Electronics and Surplus Computers went bust and somehow Central Computers survived. I love how I can walk into a store and get the items right there and find stuff I didn't know I needed. (i.e. RGB cases/fans/keybards) It is not possible to hear how loud a fan is or how much air is pushed by a 200mm fan online. The prices here are competitive and they have stuff in-stock where they are sold out online. For example, I saw a 6GHz i9-13900KS 24 core CPU in stock. Some stuff like a 5.7 GHz Ryzen 9 7950x 16 core is $590 at Central Computer but is only $542 on Amazon. But if you buy the CPU and a motherboard at Central, they will take -$80 off the CPU and -$35 off the motherboard (-$105 total.) Not bad at all. If something screwed up on my computer, I've always had a positive connotation with Central Computers and their employees because I can fix it that day without delays. Don't have to wait for parts to arrive online. Love the selection of cat6 cables. Good job Central Computers!

I had to get a work laptop (lenovo thinkpad) fixed due to a fan issue. The fan was making ungodly noises that sounded like a fly was getting zapped with the electric fly killer. I came in before Christmas and they said that their technicians wouldn't be back til after Christmas which is understandable!

December 26th - They called me and said that they have to order a new part and it would cost XX amount. Okay, I'll bite. They ordered it and they fixed it. They quote me $189 including the initial inspection so fine. A bit expensive but its a work laptop and needed to get it done. They ended up calling about 3-4 days later saying its ready for pickup! Great turnaround time as I didn't know they could get the part and fix it that fast.

I came in after the new year, got my laptop, paid the fees and was on my way. They make laptop repairs easy and have quick turnaround time. They do have steep prices for fixes so if it's too expensive, might just buy a new laptop.

This store has a lot of services and parts to order. You can buy refurbished laptops, headphones, keyboards, gpus, cpus, and everything computer related. I would come here for personal laptops if i was extremely desperate.

Sometimes things happen and you find out some part was a bad choice, so the 15% restocking fee kills shopping here for me. It's never bothered me before, because I rarely returned anything there until today.

Sadly I can't justify buying anything here unless it's extremely urgent. Prices are not great, most of the time it's easy to find cheaper prices online. So between that and the restocking fee, it's just not worth it.

To top it off, on this return I paid almost 90% cash and rest credit card. So while they were meticulous on checking the part I was returning and applying a 15% restocking fee, the cashier just returned everything to my credit card and gave no cash. I'm hoping at the least it won't also reverse addition cash-back on my credit card, but I suspect it will... I know it's nit-picky, but they kind of set the standard on that behavior (but apparently only when it's in their benefit).

Wanted to keep supporting a local physical store, but they can enjoy the 15% fee they got from me today instead.

The store is legit, they have everything and have good pricing. JK helped me today with a keyboard, mouse, back-up drives, ect. He took the time to go over my current build list and he gave me a bunch of recommendations to help me get closer to completing my new white gaming build. Thank you JK for spending almost an hour going over everything and helping me out. I highly recommend this store, great job!

Used to love this store! Great selection of products, friendly staff, perfect place to buy any components business or personal.

Unfortunately, they recently changed the policies (sorry "now enforce"). We were waiting to check out and a staff member said "you have to check your bags" my wife (small purse) never lets it out of her sight, and was basically told that you had to check it out or leave (this was in the checkout line).

Treating every customer as if they are shoplifters doesn't make a store feel welcoming. Very bummed since we used to frequent the shop pretty regularly and have referred countless friends and businesses over :(