Computerware

We have been using Computerware for about one year. Alan Edwards has been our contact and has done marvelous things for us. He has been both professional and knowledgeable in his dealings with us. We had some difficulties with a banking issue and a security company issue. He was able to resolve both quickly and satisfactorily. He has implemented online real time protection programs and has/​is always available when we have questions or needs. Our experience has been excellent.

Ordered my computer through the Georgetown degree program technology office. They suggested using this company and configurations.
Given that the program suggested something very specific I took their advice.
Never again.
I would have been better off ordering a several hundred dollar no-​named branded machine online.
This is a very low quality very high cost computer which barely functions and can’t be fixed by the same IT department who recommended it.

I am extremely happy with the service that I received at Computerware. I needed my laptop LCD screen replaced, and Computerware was one of the few computer repair shops in the area that would service my Lenovo X1 Carbon. They did an excellent job, allowed me to bring my own replacement part, were super fast (one day turnover), and charged me exactly what they had quoted me via email. I really couldn’t have asked for more than that!

Hardware problems with a consumer Lenovo? Shop around before bringing your system here.
My Lenovo Ideapad Y570 was working almost fine. I could use MS Office, browse the web, download and view files from the internet, use the Blueray drive, etc. The one problem was that the NVidia graphics card had somehow stopped working, because whereas I could play 2D games that used the onboard video, any attempt to use the 3D Nvidia card caused a perpetual blackscreen and sometimes a system lockup. So I took it into Computerware, who has Lenovo certifications, to diagnose it.
The next day, they said the 3D card was working after they tweaked the registry and some system settings. When I went to pick up the system the next morning, we agreed on $ 180 for the diagnostic work, so I opened the lid and wanted to boot up the system to check the 3D. However, the laptop would not even boot into Windows. I tried four times at their front desk. They took the system back. I believe that was Friday.
They called me later, I believe on Monday. Indeed there was a problem with the motherboard; the NVidia portion of the motherboard was faulty, and that they could order a replacement mainboard for $ 399 plus installation. They assured me that replacing it would fix the problem. I told them I would like to pick up the system as it had been when I dropped it off, and then I would let them know in a few days whether I would want them to replace the mainboard for me. They said that was fine, and that the system would be put back together and ready for pickup later that day.
They called back 15 – 30 minutes later. They were doing some kind of hard drive scan and now couldn’t get the OS operating. They would get back to me the next day.
The next day, they emailed me twice: once to request my BIOS password, which I provided, and a second time to request my permission to reinstall the OS because they believed the system partitions of my two hard drives to be corrupted. As I said, it had worked fine beforehand. Lenovo Ideapads use a technology called RapidDrive to enable partitions to span across drives, similar to RAID or JBOD, so I had my SSD coupled with some storage from the conventional drive and used that as my OS partition. The remaining bulk of my HDD I partitioned for documents/​media. Apparently, Computerware doesn’t know how to work with Lenovo technology, and their solution was to reinstall, which would of course lose everything.
I just picked up the computer today. They still wanted to charge me $ 180…for ruining my OS and possibly losing all my work and personal files for the past year. Fortunately, they agreed to reduce that charge to $ 90, which seems reasonable in that they did do some diagnostics. Now I’ve got to do all the work myself to recover the RapidDrive partitions and save my data. Isn’t that why I wanted to pay them? It is painful to pay someone to ruin your computer for you, especially when they are supposed to be certified by the manufacturer as being competent on those systems.
Backup your data before taking any system to Computerware, even if you only want them to do something minor like check whether a component unrelated to storage is faulty. If you suspect you have a hardware problem, you should shop around and find a place with more reviews than Computerware.