Central Computers

Sunnyvale, United States

3.1

Closed now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 650-964-5888
Website:
www.centralcomputers.com
Address:
1255 W El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA, 94087
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
1.2 miWhisman
1.3 mi54
1.5 miSunnyvale Transit Center
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Bussiness info

Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Parking
Private Lot
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes

Today

Today 10:30 am – 6:00 pm
Closed now
Local time (Sunnyvale) 03:41 Saturday, 21 June 2025

Business hours

Monday 9:00 am – 7:30 pm
Tuesday 9:00 am – 7:30 pm
Wednesday 9:00 am – 7:30 pm
Thursday 9:00 am – 7:30 pm
Friday 9:00 am – 7:30 pm
Saturday 10:30 am – 6:00 pm
Sunday 10:30 am – 6:00 pm

Description

Specialties

High tech and low prices since 1986. Our 6 retail locations in the Bay Area are filled with a wide selection of computer products from laptops, monitors, and hardware to cables, peripherals, and accessories. Our tech team can fix any computer problem that you have from viruses to networking starting at $ 29. We also offer onsite service for your home or office. We build custom computers and server systems. You dream it. We’ll build it. Our staff is knowledgeable and friendly.

Meet the Business Owner

Saul and Sherry Y.

Business Owner

Central Computers was established by Saul and Sherry Yeung in 1986, when Apple took the lead and IBM followed suit in driving the personal computer revolution in Silicon Valley. At this time, Saul was finishing his PhD studies at UC Berkeley and spent a period in a teaching and research position. Sherry had obtained her MBA degree from UCLA and worked as a manager at IBM. Both of them grabbed the opportunity to enter the computer industry at this critical time. With academic discipline learned at top American universities and with work experience at top institutions and corporations, Saul and Sherry built their company’s foundation in a systematic manner, from the beginning.

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20 reviews of Central Computers

No registration required
Place rating: 1
Sunnyvale, CA
I don’t think this is a very good shop. I’ve been here twice, and both times left immediately, completely unsatisfied.
The first time was with a nonfunctioning printer. They said they don’t do printers and I should just buy a new one. Wouldn’t even run a quick diagnostic to find out what was wrong. (It might have been a simple mechanical issue that could actually be fixed.) I took it somewhere else which did cheerfully run a diagnostic.
The second time was a software issue with a computer. Having taken all my information, they only then told me, phlegmatically as with of complete unconcern when I got my computer back, that it’d be 2 or 3 days. 2 or 3 days? «Well, we have a lot of other computers ahead of you.» They wouldn’t get mine in their queue like that, so I went elsewhere with no hold up at all.
Place rating: 5
Sunnyvale, CA
Friendly and knowledgeable tech support staff. Although my Lenovo ThinkPad is still under warranty, the staff took time to listen before making recommendations. The explanation was simple and concise.
Place rating: 3
South Bay, CA
I inherited an Asus laptop a while back which is going south. So I needed some parts to cobble a frankenstein. CC carries a bunch of parts. Accessories and low and behold Asus gear. I think kore compelling are the cable and adapters that some places charge a premium for. If it fails buy a new one as it costs next to nothing
Place rating: 4
Mountain View, CA
They built me a computer for my worker. They did a great job but were a day late. Still, this is a fun store to frequent.
Place rating: 1
San Jose, CA
I had 2 HDD’s there, 1 there to transfer data to the other… Why did it take me 5 months for me to realize this was the wrong place to get that done? A legit data transfer should take about a week or two when one is provided ALL of the info needed. 5 months later I had to ask for a refund for a simple data transfer… Tell me im wrong and I will forward my entire experience! Ive got wrongs from this location down to the name and it was two people.
Place rating: 2
Los Altos, CA
What a joke. Bunch of I don’t knows and no exsperiance
Rather sell something to you that isn’t needed that know the right part
Telling me it can’t be ordered made my departure and going to Palo Alto frys instead !!
Place rating: 4
San Jose, CA
Seriously my favorite computer store at the moment! Great place to pickup the latest store branded knock off USB cables! They have a decent selection of phone cases, cool gadgets and of course everything you need to build dinosaur PCs!
They do a mix business of retail and service (working on people’s computers). The staff are pretty geeky so if you ask for a USB3 to SATA III connector for your SSD they’ll know what you’re talking about!
Great resource for your electronic project needs! They have a closer store in Santa Clara, but I find the selection and service to be better at this store.
Place rating: 1
Milpitas, CA
My recent visit here will definitely be my last to this Central Computers location. I purchased some memory for my desktop and I specifically ask the floor person if there were any restocking fee if I decided to return the unit. He said no if the packaging is in good condition. This was very clear. A child could understand this. I would not had made the purchase if there was a restocking fee. I called back in a few days later asking the same question to make sure about the fee. (I found some better and cheaper memory on Newegg). THIS WAS A BATTLE OVER THE PHONE. They kept on telling me about the 15% restocking fee if I made the return. DUDE, the packaging and memory is in PERFECT condition, I said. They kept on deflecting and bringing up the 15% fee. I finally spoke to the gentleman who sold me the memory and he also kept on saying 15%, 15%, 15%. To make the story short, at the end of the conversation he said they MAY take the memory back without the fee. I never felt so confused and cheated on a purchase. I got so upset, I did not even want to visit the store to do the return.
Next time, tell your customers that there will be no restocking fee if the packaging and product is in perfect condition. If there is a restocking fee, be clear. Simple as that.
Place rating: 1
Palo Alto, CA
I tried to buy a USB 1.1 hub to help with my MIDI vs Windows 8.1 problem. They didn’t have it, even though they seem to have everything else under the sun. The alternative was to buy Windows 7. I have a Windows 8.1 PC and Windows 7 won’t install, so I called them roughly 2 hours after purchasing and they refused to take the product back. They said they can’t offer refunds on software whatsoever. I spend thousands of dollars with Central Computers for my business and it truly bothered me that they were completely unwilling to help with a product I purchased that could not be used. Apparently since the seal is broken they offer no customer support whatsoever. The only thing Eric offered was to help install Windows 7, and he said he MAY be able to help with the hourly support fees, meaning I MIGHT be charged hourly to have an operating system installed that they refused to take back. In the future I will definitely be going elsewhere.
Central Computers is a sad knock off of Radio Shack with no customer support and no customer loyalty. Stay away if possible.
Place rating: 1
Sunnyvale, CA
Place is decent. Products sold are bad quality and «Made in China» rip offs. Yes everything is cheap but it comes with a price. Everything that I’ve purchased here failed within a couple weeks to a month. I will not be coming back. Only item that didn’t fail was the only item that was no mechanical or electronic (iPhone case). Tip: keep original packaging, receipt, etc. because you gonna be needing it.
Place rating: 5
Sunnyvale, CA
My Windows desktop computer developed a Registry problem and didn’t recognize the password. Searched YouTube for a fix, but, decided not to risk hosing it. First called a computer fix-​it shop 2 miles down the Camino from Central. Described the issue and the dude on the line said, the registry repair price would be $ 90 for starters. Then came the but, BUT this kind of problem usually means the hard drive is on the way out; so, now he’s prepping me for accepting the idea that a new drive, Windows install AND file recovery might be in order. Sensing he was looking at a $ 300 payday and multiple days in repair time I checked out Central Computer.
Dennis at Central handled my registry problem in under 2 hours and under 30 bucks. So much for those guys down the Camino! Central Computer in Sunnyvale has my gratitude for this repair and full confidence that they’ll do right by me if any more computer repairs are needed.
Place rating: 1
Sunnyvale, CA
They lost my hard drive then said it was my fault.
I’ll never go there again
Place rating: 5
Sunnyvale, CA
I am an electrical engineer and newly a music producer. I am not at all that familiar with Macintosh computers. I have used PC computers my whole career except for working at motorola 25+ years ago.
My Macbook Pro stopped working, and the light where the power supply plugs into the computer was not lit. I assumed it was the power supply but I had no spares to test.
I went to Central Computer and a sales associate allowed me to test my computer with one of their power supplies. No Charge (no pun intended). I did not have money at the time to purchase it, but I said I would come back. I did and it works.
This put my mind at ease that I would not have lost all the music files I recorded.
Thanks you guys!
Place rating: 5
Manhattan Beach, CA
I was searching for an adapter. Best Buy didn’t have it. Fry’s didn’t have it. I called Central Computers and Allison said she didn’t think they had it. I hung up, disappointed. Two minutes later, my phone rang and it was Allison saying they had the adapter. I’ve never had a store employee go out of their way to look for something and actually call me back.
For what it’s worth, I found the same part cost more than twice as much at a Fry’s in Los Angeles.
Thank you Allison and thank you Central Computers!
Place rating: 4
Mountain View, CA
This is a good place to go if you’re going to build the computer from scratch
Great for techies like me
They also have little things like connecting your serial mouse and keyboards to USB ports
As someone else said much better than Fry’s electronics
Place rating: 4
Sunnyvale, CA
One stop to all the parts to ur build.
Really impressed with options.
I went to get parts for AMD system. Got all components. The sales person are really helpful, u have to approach them though…
Place rating: 4
Los Angeles, CA
I was visiting from Los Angeles and working out of my laptop as I do, I found my power cable not working. I found Central and bought another at a fair price. Upon bringing it home to LA, it malfunctioned. And I had lost my receipt.
I called the store and they were very nice. I sent my not working cable back. They sent me another one that works fine. So they seem very much to stand behind their transactions. This is not always the case, in my experience. So kudos to Central Computers.
Place rating: 4
Sunnyvale, CA
If you’re a computer and/​or IT nerd like me, then you will go crazy here. They’ve got all sorts of products (software and hardware) for your computer and other computing devices.
Additionally, they have a repair area in the rear where employees will repair your computer and most computer-​related devices for relatively fair prices.
I came by to ask a question about repairing the screen of my seven year old iPod. I was told that, unfortunately, they don’t repair iPod screens any longer. Bummer.
Overall, I’ve got no major complaints. However, it would be nice if you could have more than one person at the front of the repair area. The one employee at the front was helping a customer and I waited for over 20 minutes until someone in the back noticed me and came out to help me.
4 stars
Place rating: 3
Sunnyvale, CA
The cashier is the only person available to help shoppers locate items. On a Saturday afternoon when the store is packed, this leads to long wait times.
The cashier was very friendly and helpful when I needed to find something. He was so busy that I didn’t see him again.
Finally, an employee that does computer repairs came out from the back to be a temporary cashier.
.
The selection of generic iPhone-​compatible accessories is good, and the prices are low.
I was here for an antistatic wrist strap ($ 5.95), and it was cheaper here than at Radio Shack ($ 8.99).
There is a 15% restocking fee on returns for some of their items.
The parking lot is shared with Togo’s and BevMo, plus a few other storefronts, so it’s a challenge. The bathroom is clean.
Place rating: 4
Oakland, CA
If you’re in need of any spare part that’s computing or electronics-​related, then this store has the generic (read: private-​label, not brand-​name) solution just for you.
I swung by recently to pick up a replacement power cord for my laptop and an iPhone 5 adapter, and the staff member on duty here (sorry, can’t remember his name) was extraordinarily helpful, knew exactly what I was looking for, and led me exactly to what I needed. A wonderful find, thanks to Unilocal