Central Computers

Category:	Computer Store
Address:	5990 Mowry Ave, Newark, CA 94560, USA
Phone:	+1 510-792-5888
Site:	centralcomputers.com
Rating:	3.6
Working:	9AM–7:30PM 9AM–7:30PM 9AM–7:30PM 9AM–7:30PM 9AM–7:30PM 10:30AM–6PM 10:30AM–6PM

Location

Photos 36

Reviews 7

A Private User

My experiences with Central Computer have been... varied. I had a system custom-built there and for the first 2 months I had it, it wouldnt boot properly because the BIOS chip was less than perfect. Id have to go into Setup (even if I didnt change any settings) and then exit -- just to get it to boot into Windows. Turns out that was due to a bad ASUS chip. And while ASUS, after numerous emails and phone calls offered to replace the chip free for only $5 plus another $25 to ship it -- a deal I refused to accept -- Mark from Central walked me through the process of updating the BIOS online. (Youd think ASUS could tell me the fix was available to me online, but their customer service was, hands down, the WORST Ive ever experienced.) So, with Marks help, I got my system to a point where it actually boots correctly the first time. One problem solved. My next little nightmare came when my email client (Thunderbird) automatically updated to the newest version for me. Bad idea; that update hosed my email. I got error messages trying to open Thunderbird that said it was already running and when I did get it to run, that the security component could not be launced or some such garbage. Worse, all my messages were ... gone. Still there, somewhere, but not retrievable by me. KUDOS to Kevin and Chi for helping me recover my messages and reinstall my old, non-upgraded Thunderbird version. Now Im down to a few last issues with runtime errors and VB c++ that need to be worked out, but Im sure Im almost home free. If a few software fixes dont work at home, I can bring it back and theyll take care of it for me. Bottom line, even though Im not at 100% yet is that Central Computer really cares that their customers are satisfied and that the work they do is of high quality. If they dont know the asnwer, they look until they find a solution. Ill keep shopping there.

A Private User

Took my laptop in to get my power jack replaced. I was told that it would be ready by the next Friday ...i waited all weekend for a call from them to come get my laptop, so i finally called on Tuesday and asked about it and i was told there was no record me of dropping off a computer. Then they called me back and said that they found record of but they were not done replacing the sound card. What? i didnt want the sound card replaced ....i just wanted the power jack replaced. It was going to cost me another $120. So after me complaining they said, alright we wont replace the sound card. So they said we will call you tomorrow when its ready. 20 minutes later they called and said the computer was ready........."are you sure?" .... they said they had finished faster then thought. So i go and get my Laptop, bring it home and start using it ... i leaned over to get something and the DVD drive falls off on to the floor. WTF. i take it back and they complained. They Kept telling e that it was weird that it fell off .....i kept saying ....its not weird you just forgot to screw it back on. So i leave it there so they can fix it again ..it took them another 4 days. When i went back to get it for the second time, they had lost my AC adapter. after some complaining they gave me a new AC adapter for the laptop. Even after all of their incompetency the manager offered me a $20 store Credit .... i didnt want a store credit i just wanted my computer fixed correctly. ...Anyway since then my computer does not work well....it works really slow ...they say they did not do anything with the software but how do i know that? they tried replacing the sound without telling me....and guess what the soudn card is working fine??? Dont FIX your PC here you will regret it!!!!!!!

Nimalen Sivapalan

Central computers is a good place for all your computer needs. They have a good stock of general computer supplies from storage devices to cables at decent prices. The staff are quite friendly overall (bar a few as you will see below) and will attend to your needs. Now, heres why Im giving them 3 stars: I was planning on coming into the store a bit before they closed (7:30 pm) and called in to see if that would be okay with that. They literally said "no, we cant stay until 7:30, we start closing down the store at 7:28, come in before 7:26." I arrived at 7:28 and indeed, they were closing down the store. I mean, seriously, you cant stay just 2 minutes for a customer? They were kind to let me pick my laptop up, though. But the two men helping me out (one of whom I suspect I spoke to) were quite rushed and a bit rude. He grabbed my credit card and asked me to sign quickly. When I told them I was a student to take advantage of the 10% discount, one of them said "hes already invoiced it, say it before, next time". Dude, next time? Sorry, dont think so, at least not at this particular central computers. Pity because I actually liked this store having been a customer for a couple years.

Michael Coustier

Great for PC enthusiast builders - Modest selection of monitors, laptops, mice, keyboards, speakers. They have a decent selection of cases, PSUs, mobos, CPUs. They have a better selection of memory, HDDs and SDDs. Good selection of USB thumbdrives and memory cards (SD/microSD) Definitely a great place to go for fairly priced cables (HDMI, displayPort, iPhone charging cables, android cables of all sorts). Their cheaper no-name brand items ( cables, phone/tablet accessories) runs the gammut from poor to reasonable quality. Their prices are usually OK - theyre not going to price match or beat online, but on some items its close-ish.

Andrew Hartman

I go here for all of my computer needs. The staff are always helpful, if I have any questions. I used to work in tech support, so I always know what I am looking for, & I can ask technical questions to get specific answers. I find that the service people are only rude if you are an idiot and dont know what youre talking about... Which is probably most people who give this place 1 star reviews. One word of warning - they are Intel and Nvidia fanboys, so if you want to buy any AMD processors, motherboards, or Radeon graphics cards, Id go somewhere else.

Devon Powell

I had my computer built here. I stopped in for a quote and was guided and educated on the projected build by one of the associates. He was patient and thorough when answering all of my questions. I made a few changes and had been given assistance on another visit by Lars. After a couple more questions and decisions, I had them build the computer which was completed only a day later. Their knowledge, service, and speed was excellent. I will continue to go here for my computer electronic needs.

Darron Young

had my tower die on me and i extracted my hdd. I was going into CC hoping that they could recover my data of my drive. when I tried powering up the hdd with a base plate, the motors would spin but the drive would not mount (get recognized) on my local laptop. I told them my issue, they immediately popped in our their HDD base and it immediately was able to mount. Instead of charging me for getting my HDD to mount, he just sold me the base and I was able to retrieve all my data at home.