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Action Computer & Surplus
Categories: Local Services IT Services & Computer Repair Shopping Computers IT Services & Computer Repair, Computers [Edit]
520 N Lawrence ExpySte 305
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
(408) 739-0316
- Hours:
Mon-Sat 10 am - 6 pm
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
Jessica Y. said: "Found this place through google and after reading generally positive reviews on Yelp, decided to come in and give it a try. A couple weeks before, it had been 2 am and while coding up a project, I had thought of the brilliant idea to…" read more »
17 reviews for Action Computer & Surplus
17 reviews in English
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Review from P J.
Sunnyvale, CA
1/9/2011
Great place for cheap electronic components.
They now have snack food and drink! Watch out Fry's!
Next thing you know, they'll have a guy checking your receipt at the door. -
Review from Sue Ellen E.
Santa Clara, CA
1/30/2012
To buy random doodads that you might need for your 'puter or lots of other things too. Even junk, if you want that. The prices are wonderfully low, but I can't say the overall quality is always great.
For instance, we bought backpacks here that we thought were really cool, with the nicely padded shoulders (ahhh...soft!). One of them broke after only a couple of uses! And it wasn't filled very heavily either; believe me, I can't carry a huge amount of weight on my back. That was a letdown. They were about $18 each, so I guess it was too cheap to be true. Maybe the store would have replaced it for us; didn't get around to asking. Anyway we still use the pack, but only for storage. It holds emergency supplies for our cats.
While not glamorous, Action is a good store to be acquainted with in case you happen to need something they have and want to get a decent price. It's like Fry's baby cousin without the long lines and crowds.Listed in: My 'Hood, Best Place to Shop
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Review from Rich J.
San Jose, CA
11/20/2011
This place is great now that they are under management. The new owners cleaned up the place nicely and have fresher newer products. Find everything here from PC's to parts.
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Review from Anna S.
8/8/2008
This place is so random, I love it. It is full of totally useful cheap items, and totally worthless, or questionable things. There are slingshots, asian porn, bajillions of random computer accessories, and lots of used things as well. You can get converters for 220 volt to 110, and vice versa. There are sooo many old school products here, from when hard drives were the norm, pre-internet era, aka pre-historic. I was looking at a power strip for $2, and the owner/manager, a vietnamese guy, was like "oh, those aren't for the US. that's why theyre still there". I like him already. I will definitely be back.
I went here last night and got:
-a used computer keyboard, $2. Yay for recycling!
-a used mouse, $3.
-a used gel wristpad, for under the keyboard, $1. New, these are $15.
-a set of cleaning supplies for computer screens and other electronics, $3. It included a spray duster can, anti-static wipes, spray screen cleaner, a 3.5" floppy drive cleaner (!), a cd cleaner, you get the picture
-a set of 15 velcro tabs for $1.79. My cubicle is gonna be the envy of the office.
-a 12 foot cord power strip, $8. -
Review from Robert N.
Sunnyvale, CA
Updated - 8/4/2009
I guess I was the first reviewer on Yelp for these guys. They moved to the next section of this pseudo-strip-mall recently, on the other side of Ham Radio Outlet and St Johns, near a new frozen yogurt shop that used to be Computer Literacy Bookstore. I think this particular location used to be a Mac retailer (not an Apple Store, but an authorized reseller who used to also have used Macs), many long years ago.
They're still a great place to get cables and adapters, screwdrivers and other tools, and there's still a selection of adult videos in the back. The collection of apparently off-lease PCs seems to be keeping up with the times, lots of compact and full-size Pentium 4 HT era computers for fair prices, in volume too. You can still get Pentium 3 stuff, LCDs, keyboards, mice, all sorts of stuff. I bought about $50 worth of screwdrivers and knives for work. The selection of dental implements is impressive and intimidating too. And this time around there were a few network laser printers and a couple of old SGI robot-looking desktops.
I still drop by once in a while, and if I need a cable or a P4 SFF desktop, it's the first place I think of (unless it's Saturday morning and CRC is open).1 Previous Review: Show all »
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6/4/2007
Great place for cables. Whether you need to tie up your geek girlfriend/boyfriend or cable up your… Read more »
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Review from Andy F.
Sunnyvale, CA
1/10/2011
In reply to F.P. :
Me as a customer and a business owner, please respect the store policy and honor with it when you purchase the item, do not bad-mouth just because you did not receive what you think you deserve for.
Clearly, you did not follow the terms and conditions, so back to square one, is it any one's fault that you live in Redwood City and "just" happen to be "too busy"?
I went to this store yesterday, yes, they do need improvements to be more organized, and recycle most of the e-waste and end-of-life hardware/computer/monitor they have in store, their dress code and manner needs to be more professional, I operate a large business in Bay Area serving lots of customers throughout the year, and yes, most of you, almost all of you been into my store before.
They can use some improvements but at the end, no one will help you if you cannot honor the terms and conditions with the sale.Comment from Bryan O. of Action Computer & Surplus 1/13/2011
Andy, Thank you for the review. I wanted to let you know… More » -
Review from Jimmy W.
Los Gatos, CA
5/25/2007
Best computer store possible for a small hard to find part, random computer crap, or CABLES.
They have the absolute best cable prices I have found. The manager Huong is a killer guy who is always available to help you out.
They also usually have pretty good deals on used good quality laptops and desktops which make good linux boxes or spare laptops for the wife or kids.
I shop here whenever I get the chance.
Also, the service department has never did me wrong. Their laptop repairs are always cheap and spot on. -
Review from Amy O.
5/19/2008
Action Jackson.
Gotta come here for the random computer goods, flashlights, laptop bags, random DVDs. -
Review from Brian P.
San Jose, CA
5/19/2011
Pretty nice little computer shop. If your looking for cheap cables , then heres the place! Cheaper than Micro Center! WIll come back for lil nick nac cables.
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Review from chok y.
Mountain View, CA
11/19/2011
Disappointed and Disgusted!
I took my Dell computer in for a new power supply. I had my own specially ordered Dell PS. I was told first on the phone that it would cost $35 for the labor. When I got there, Daniel told me that it would cost $59. Why, because he said it was harder to install with my desktop. We found that there were some component cables missing, so Daniel asked me to bring the PS back with the cables. No charge. I went back about a week later and was told by another guy that the labor now was $80. Why, because he said that the PS was hard to install. I was understandably shocked by the changing charges and the reasons given were the same. He also said that I had to pay in cash. We finally settled on $70. Do you know how long it took him to replace my PS, less than 10 minutes. I only had $66 cash on me, so that was what I paid. I could have done it at any other store for less. So, my advise to others is beware and try to get a written estimate before any work is done. I have learned my lesson and I probably won't go back to Action Computer ever again! -
Review from Daniel H.
12/8/2010 1 Check-in Here
It doesn't seem like a lot of people go here because it was empty when I came in. They had a lot of cable adapters and various computer accessories for cheap prices. There might be some items that are hard to find as well. Also, they had a bunch of laptop bags. If you want to buy a cheap pre-historic computer, then come here because there's a bunch here for you! In my opinion, this place's location was tucked away from view unless you go eat at St. John's or go to the other stores around.
Comment from Bryan O. of Action Computer & Surplus 1/6/2011
Hello Daniel H. Our busy times are between 11:00 to 2:00… More » -
Review from Aron K.
Sunnyvale, CA
10/29/2011
This is probably a nice place to buy cables or some parts. But an absolute no no if you want to fix a laptop or a desktop. They way over charge for a simple diagnostics $99 and come back to tell you nothing new. You are back to the same point where you started and even more frustrated after spending shit loads of time and money. The service is absolutely disgusting. Go some where else to buy a used PC or a laptop and don;t even thing of comming here to get your laptop or PC fixed.
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Review from kim n.
1/11/2007
Sometimes the quest for small things breaks out into a big deal. All I needed were 6-32 quarter inch phillips screws with a flat head/cone recession for some dumb hard drive rails on some servers. Someone told me about this place so I dropped in. Well they have just about every other type of hard drive screws you can think of, just not the ones I needed. They have all sorts of other computer junk too. I suppose if you are into Frankensteing old computer parts together to create some sort of computing anomally, this place is for you.
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Review from yanyan d.
CA
7/18/2009
This place has all sorts of stuff! Cheap laptops to desktops! And u can bargain! My dog chewed through my ac adapter on my Sony Vaio laptop and I didn't wanna pay $75+ for a universal so came here and he happnd to have one for $20! What a bargain!
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Review from Bob M.
San Anselmo, CA
12/21/2009
My wife and I have been shopping here for, oh, fifteen years or more. It's the go-to place if you need some weird piece of old technology, or if you want to buy a commodity cable for a quarter of what Fry's charges up the street.
Here's an example. We got a call from an old contracting customer who wanted some SCSI-oriented software I wrote for them "back in the day" to be updated to work with Windows 7. But we chucked all our old SCSI gear years ago! Look around online... demand is low for SCSI, so prices have shot through the roof. What to do? Why, "spring into Action!" Big pile of old 1 gig hard drives on a shelf, some with parts rattling around (no prob, I have a screwdriver). Another shelf, every imaginable SCSI cable, plus terminators. Walk out after a half-hour with $35 worth of gear - two hard drives, cables, terminators, the whole schmear needed for the project. If we'd tried to buy the equivalent new gear in 2009, it would have probably been $700. Woohoo!
In some ways, their old store was more fun: they had the same junk randomly crammed into a fraction of the space, so it was like cave-exploring, kind of an adventure. My wife or I would pick up some odd item and wave it around: "Honey, come here, look what I found!" But this one is better organized and not so claustrophobic, so if you want to just get one item and not leave with a huge stack of old interesting junk you can't live without, that's now possible. It's all trade-offs, and now my wife lets me go in there without her since I can do so without draining our bank account. -
Review from Dilip P.
San Mateo, CA
5/19/2011
This place is great, the service is AWSOME, and they ordered just what I wanted/needed and did not try to sell me something I did not want or need.
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Review from Anton C.
San Jose, CA
2/9/2008
I've been shopping here for years, and this little store is full of interesting and random stuff. (from used computer parts, cables and adapters to tools, toy crossbows and pocket knives) The owner is a good guy, and in the days of Walmart and giant chain stores I really hope mom and pop shops likes this one will continue to survive and offer an alternative to Fry's and BestBuy. Over all a great treasure hunt type of place for the geek in you. Oh and if you bring your kids there make sure they don't wander into the adult video booth in the corner...
