The Computer Cellar

Helpful, respectful, fun staff. The end product was excellent and the price was right, especially compared to school/​business repair services.

…weell my Comp. DIED! i took it here for Last Rites buuut instead Lo ‘n Behold… IT WAS HEALED!!! Great bunch’o guys here but be CAREFUL that they don’t UNDER-​Charge for their Services! (thanx guys!!). …

My two year old Asus died last night. It literally screamed as it was dying. I’ve never heard anything quit like the sound it made. I actually regret buying the Asus but that is a review for another time and for Best Buy. So after multiple attempts to get my Asus back on and running I decided that I’d pop by Geek Squad to see if they could have any luck. I waited in line at the Best Buy at New Hope Commons for a solid ten to fifteen minutes and when I finally arrived at the counter, a rude, terse and unhappy man told me that I needed an appointment. I then asked if I could leave my Asus piece of crappola with him for a diagnosis later in the day when he didn’t have a line. I was abruptly scolded with the words, «There is paper work to fill out and that takes time.» So essentially… no and piss off.
My patience had ebbed and so I went to sarcasm, which is the way of my people, informing señor overworked and unhappy that it would have been nice if he had told me that an appointment was required prior to me standing on line for ten to fifteen minutes. I left Best Buy and did a quick Google search whereby I discovered The Computer Cellar on Ninth Street. I hot footed over to The Computer Cellar and the took me without an appointment; had diagnosed the problem with the Asus piece of crappola and quoted me a price to fix the computer; all without rudeness, terseness or unhappiness and all within an hour of me leaving the Asus with them.

Great service! Pam cleared out all the nasties that had sneaked into my computer and the customer service was great!

I discovered one of my external hard drives was broken and was distraught when I realized that there were countless pictures of my deceased father on it that I thought I had backed up. Calling around and googling data recovery options left me upset and feeling like I had no choice but to get swindled of a lot of money to get my pictures back! Deeper investigation showed that many of these companies are fraudulent, too. A friend recommended The Computer Cellar and I paid them a visit. Mark was amazing and took apart the hard drive and was able to download all my files to a new hard drive (the problem was such that it did not require a clean room to fix the hard drive). I am so happy to have my pictures back and to support a small business! The price was more than fair and I will definitely recommend them! Thank you so much Computer Cellar!

Long story short, my mother in law called me in a panic because her laptop had been «hacked» and she could not get on it. I had no idea what to do but came to Unilocal,because this website rarely steers me wrong. The Computer Cellar was close and had stellar reviews, so I told my MiL to call. Now I’m the best daughter in law ever for getting her someone so nice and knowledgeable to fix her baby. She is beyond happy, therefore so am I! THANK YOU!!!

These guys are exceptionally good at what they do and more than fair in their pricing. When the hard drive on my iMac went out, they replaced it with a higher capacity drive at less than the price Apple was charging for a comparable one, and they performed the work in far less time. I love all things Apple, but I would use these fellows again in a heartbeat for any computer related problem.

Highly recommend computer cellar for any computer problems. Daryn was unbelievable. I was about to buy a new Mac cause my computer crashed. I was told by Apple the hard drive was done for it. In reality it was just a small piece that was malfunctioning. Daryl recognized this and fixed everything on the spot. He undercharged me to. Honest, skilled work and very personable. Hopefully I have. No more computer probers but if I do there is no question where I’m going to.

I love these folks. They did what they could to rescue my data and my MacBook that got wet. They were referred to me by Triangle Ecycling (they recycle old computers and know their stuff), which is high praise.

Dropped an external hard drive, complete with un-​backed-​up photos of our honeymoon, and it quickly refused to show up, spun wildly, and threatened to ruin any memories we had of the trip.
I popped over to Computer Cellar, who not only saved my data, but acted as emotional counselors as well. Super friendly people who take time to explain what they’re going to try to do. Turnaround time was super speedy and pricing was very fair. Not cheap, but still felt like a good deal.
Highly recommended. Thanks guys for the great service.

Spilled sweet tea on my 2011 MacBook Pro June 4 2015, but my computer did not crash. I keep and cover around my computer as well as a keyboard cover. So I thought maybe nothing got into the computer. Well I was right and I was wrong. Few days later my computer would not turn on or charge.
At this point I knew I needed to get my computer fixed and I knew the apple store was not a option. Between waiting a week or two for them to see me; as well as price, I decided to find smaller computer shop.
Checked Unilocal and from the reviews «The Computer Cellar» looked like my best option and it was.
Only negative (if you can call it that) Not the easiest place to find. On 9^th street but the sign for the actually store is really small so I passed the door about three times.
After finding it everything was extremely easy, I spoke with Gabriel told him what the problem was he gave me a run down of what they would try to do (payed a $ 50 deposit) and left. Two days later got a call back saying I was lucky because the spill did not fry anything it just got over my charging port. But they cleaned it and everything looked to be working fine. The cost $ 75. He also talk to me about ways to upgrade my computer so I can get more years out of it.
The cherry on top of the entire situation was I brought in a few PC desktop parts for recycle or store credit if any of the parts had any worth. A part or two did and it brought my cost down to $ 15.

I had a great experience here. Very patient, friendly, knowledgeable staff. And the pricing is very fair. I would go back anytime I have computer problems.
–Travis

Recommended by a friend who said, «I know it’s all the way in Durham, but it’s the only place I can really recommend as completely trustworthy.»
Good call. Laptop fixed same day. Fun conversation with staff.

four year old mac had downshifted into crazy slo mo. called the apple store but couldn’t get an appointment for a week. found the computer cellar here on Unilocal and gave them a call. they spent a lot of time explaining all the possible issues. and instead of the new computer i thought i’d end up having to buy they installed a new hard drive, back up drive, doubled the ram, cleaned out the pet fur, upgraded the operating system and much software plus gave me some much needed net safety coaching — all for less than $ 400. and in and out in 24 hours!
seriously — these guys are computer heroes :)

Highly, highly recommended. I’ve taken two different computers there and each time they fixed the machine quickly and charged me less than half of the price Best Buy quoted. The staff is friendly and extremely helpful. It’s totally worth finding this hidden gem!

My laptop had developed a number of problems and was practically useless. The Computer Cellar fixed all the problems, cleaned up all the viruses and had it back to me in less time and for less money than the original estimate. Would definitely use them again!

Spilt water all over my mac keyboard and couldn’t get an appointment with Apple in the next week. Took it over to these guys and they ordered me a new keyboard and installed it for about ¹⁄₈^th the price Apple would have charged! Highly recommend.

Had an erratic trackpad problem with my mac. Switched it out in less than an hour for a reasonable price. Very satisfied and back to work! Thanks. Leon

An awesome resource in the Ninth Street neighborhood. Though I haven’t used their computer repair service, I have twice taken advantage of their e-​cycling program, getting broken monitors and computers, outdated printers, and even thermostats off my hands and out of my house. Computer Cellar picks apart the donated items for pieces that can be salvaged or repurposed, and has the rest picked up by Triangle Ecycling who then refurbishes or recycles the remains — they have a zero landfill policy.
Their hours can be a bit tricky if you work a 9 – 5, but they are open on Saturday and til 6:30 on Wednesday. Find them by entering the door in the Couch building, to the right of Market Street Coffee and heading downstairs, down a hallway on the left. The folks have always been very friendly, and very willing to accept my would-​be trash. One hopes their electronics won’t fritz out often, but if they do, I’ll be back again!

I recently had a bad experience with the Computer Cellar when I brought my iMac in to get a new hard drive. They replaced the drive, but afterwards the fan would run at top speed all the time. I emailed a number of times about the issue but they simply stopped returning the email thread. Finally I took it to the apple store and they were able to figure out that the LCD proximity sensor got unplugged during the hard drive repair. They also told me that my computer, «was obviously not handled with care» and that a number of screws were stripped and the LCD screen was scratched. So, bad repair service was coupled with bad customer service. Not a good way to run a small business.
Mac users — you might save yourself a few bucks by going here, but in the long run, it could cost you more.