Laptop Died...Yesterday I took my dead laptop to Renaissance Computing in Arcata. They are located at 1309 11th St. 707-822-7591 My laptop was an 11 year old Dell. Spencer was the person who helped me and I was totally happy with the service. In one day they were able to transfer everything from my old dead laptop onto a brand new laptop and now I'm back in business! I highly recommend Renaissance for all of your computer needs! read more

Have been using Renaissance internet for months. The Renaissance guy is really helpful and knows his stuff.

This company is professional and competent. I brought my old computer to Renaissance to have data transferred to my new computer. The owner discovered that the old computer was filled with "bugs," and before transferring the data, completely wiped the old computer free of all malware. The transfer was great, and I did not lose much at all. Additionally, the owner stayed overtime to meet his commitment that he would have everything done by this Friday. read more

I LOVE this company. I am a software coder and work with a lot of hardware IT people. Not that this is a bad thing, but IT people usually don't have the best social skills. The ITs at Renaissance, however, are so freaking friendly! They aren't condescending and they explain things really well. Amazing customer service. Also, the tech who worked on my computer, Ryan, fixed my computer in literally like 2 hours. I was trying to diagnose my laptop for weeks! Will be a returning customer, especially because they have a pair of computer speakers I really want. read more

Bought a refurbished computer from these guys, the first time i turned it on i got an error message saying it had bad parts. When i brought it in to show them, the woman at the front desk had zero interest in what was wrong with it and barely glanced at my picture of the error message. Got my money back. I'd recommend taking your computer (or buying your computer from) somewhere that won't cheap out on parts. read more

Anthony deserves a raise. First spoke with him on the phone trying to resolve the problem. Results...didn't fix it. He said bring it in. I enjoyed and learned while he did the work right in front of me. I had assumed incorrectly that machines were taken back to some closed off rooms. He patiently explained exactly what I should do upon returning home. I did. It worked. He's a genius. Another terrific interaction with Renaissance. read more

I can't say enough good things about Renaissance's on-site servicing. They are responsive, thorough, and time-efficient. If I didn't have help from the professional team at Renaissance, things would be a lot more difficult for me and my two servers and 14 workstations. Highly recommended! read more

I've bought three computers from Renaissance: two for myself and one for my business. They build a system to meet your needs, so you don't pay for anything you don't need and you can beef up the stuff you do need. They transfer all the data from one machine to the other, deliver the new computer, and get it all set up and talking to the network. Best of all, they have incredible tech support. If you have ever waited on hold only to have someone in India tell you to reinstall Windows, you know how awful it can be. At Renaissance, a real person here in town answers the phone and can very often fix the problem over the phone, log into your machine (if you let them) to check it out remotely, or come to your location to work on it. Best of all, because they built the machine, you'll never hear "oh, that's your sound card. Call the manufacturer of the sound card.' I depend on my computer to get my job done, but I don't want to spend hours troubleshooting problems with the machine. Renaissance has been worth every penny I've ever paid them. Highly recommended. read more

Took my dying PC laptop here and they couldn't help me (thankfully they didn't charge me for taking a look at my laptop) They tried selling me a bunch of different laptops but I wasn't interested. Most of the guys who work here are big nerds (no offense) but know their stuff. It's also in a really weird part of Arcata. read more

They are a nice little company for people who know little or nothing about computers. Their products are of a decent quality (referring to parts, I know little about their systems made from said parts). Their customer service leaves a little to be desired, I returned a series of parts to them while building a computer and while they took them back they give me dirty looks every time I come in despite the fact I have bought hundreds of dollars in parts from them, mostly due to a lack of alternate computer stores. They are a bit pricey, if you know what you are doing and are on a budget go online unless you need the part ASAP as I do sometimes. Again though, not a bad place to go if you have money, and know little about computers. read more

I took my computer in for a screen replacement yesterday and these guys were incredibly professional and just plain nice! The only reason I give a 4 star is because I've never taken my computer anywhere else so I don't have anything to compare it to. If you need a repair and you need it quick, I highly recommend this place! read more

I've purchased three computers from these guys over the years...it might have been more, but they've nursed them along by adding RAM, new parts for old tired ones, faster video card, new motherboard, etc and I've lost track. Finally I took my last old one in for a going over. Fin, the owner, told me it works, but we've done all we can...retire this old Technosaurus. So, I did. They went through everything I needed, step by step, recommended upgrades to basics when necessary, suggested this and that, and charged me a very fair price for a great computer, excellent service and attention. I took my old computer in, they transferred the files in one day, and the owner brought it to my home and hooked it up to every cord and cable in my office, got it running, tested everything. So fast! My experience with computers has been when (not if) something goes wrong, having someone local to fix it is like a digital miracle...especially over the past 15 years. Sometimes having to wait a bit for service is the price you have to pay for awhile when a successful business is growing. They will work out the bugs as they train new employees and continue to be an asset to this community. Try getting the warranty, service, concern, support, and a custom built product from Costco, Dell, any-Mart,Target or online. Not fun sending your computer across country to get it fixed when you can call Renaissance, on a local number, speak English, and support a local business. I too, like my last ancient computer, am a Technosaurus and I appreciate everything they do for me. My next call is to ask how to install Windows Ten...I know it comes with instructions, but I'm happier with a real person! read more

Great great great business. In the Arcata area second only to Les Schwab. If only all businesses gave the same follow up and care to their products and services. Whne you buy from Renaissance you get a person living right here to assist with your hardware and software problems. read more

They are nice but they seem like they don't really want to help you build sweet fast computers. They are focused on the customer looking for a budget built PC. The store is good for buying small stuff like RAM and optical drives. They should be good at repairing PC computers as well. I have heard good things about their repairs. read more

Horrible service, good computers. I bought a computer from here, it broke and I was told it would take a half hour to transfer the files to another hard drive and grab my old program's CD keys. I was billed a full hour, none of my CD keys made it over, and my Microsoft account was transferred between the computers without my authorization. I would NEVER recommend taking a computer here to be worked on. Still, they sell good new computers. read more

I'm a mac user... so it's kind of interesting that I was able to get what I needed at Renaissance. My external hard drive broke... with over 8 years of data... freak out time! After visiting the only Mac store in town, feeling like they could take or leave my business, I took the hard drive to Renaissance to get my data recovered... which they were able to successfully accomplish within 3 hours (for rush job fees). While the data recovery could possibly have taken place at any local computer shop, what stands out to me most was the quality of customer service. I felt like my business was valued, a priority, and that the competency of the technicians was superb. The guy who did the intake was sympathetic to my plight, patient, understanding, and honest about what the technicians would or would not be able to do, and in what time frame. I was promised a phone call at the end of the day for a status update... and sure enough, at closing, I received a call that my data had indeed been successfully recovered, and that I could come pick it up right away or in the morning. I love it when a company follows through with their follow-up. Thanks renaissance for valuing my business, following through, and also successfully meeting the challenge! read more

I bought a computer here last year when I started doing consulting work at home. The staff directed me to an appropriate laptop for a decent price, and I picked it up with everything already installed. Everything has worked great until a Windows update disabled my Microsoft Office products. Thankfully I called and one of their staff walked me through a solution on the phone. I was able to get the problem fixed in a short amount of time and get back to work. They could have charged me for the service call, but they didn't. I am very happy - they saved me a ton of time and money! Thank you. read more

I don't know much about computers, sort of like my car, just get in and GO! These people never talked down to me, explained things in simple non techie way that made me feel like they understood their stuff and also how to communicate well! I've done some other computer repair places and this place it the best! Quick, reasonable price and quality work. I won't go anywhere else! read more

My laptop is at a fantastic new level of performance after Renaissance upgraded my HDD to an SSD and added more memory. Their current SSD offer is very high value as it includes installation and set up of the new SSD as the boot drive with registry, Windows and programs, plus copying all data. In my case due to a Dell user manual error (you can't really "Add" an SSD, you can only Replace the existing HDD with an SSD) Renaissance had to go through the copy and installation process twice, but there was never any mention of additional service cost and they honored the original high value price. I also asked about a RAM upgrade and when they had the laptop open they determined the RAM options, called me to get my confirmation. Ryan added an additional 16GB card to my existing 8GB in its original slot, and did a set of tests to confirm that this asymmetric memory configuration was AOK in this machine. They did more testing after completing the service and I have had no problem, just fantastic improved performance. Thank you to Ryan and the stellar team at Renaissance Computing. read more

I am very dissatisfied with both the service provided and the customer service. I was told it would be at most 5 Business Days to hear back from them when I dropped off my laptop. Over 20 Business Days went by until i had to physically go in to the store to inquire about my laptop. Even after multiple attempts to contact them and leaving voicemails, I was NEVER contacted with an update or diagnosis of my computer. read more

When looking for a quality computer repair company, I feel it is much like finding a decent mechanic. They typically charge an absurd amount of money for repairs and you are at their mercy for length of time it is in the shop. So when this company was highly recommended to me, I thought it was going to be a great choice. I have been to this company three times now. The first time they were very helpful and quite on top of fixing my computer and it was completed in timely fashion. This is where they sucked me in. The second time I took my computer to them for repair they were great about fixing it, but had it for a lot longer than they quoted me. The third I took my computer to them they had it for three times longer than they quoted me. I was a little peeved about the length of time they had it but felt okay because when they called me to tell me it was ready they informed me that they would only be charging me $40 since I had taken my computer to them recently. However, when I got home I noticed my laptop was missing a cover panel on the bottom of the computer (no big deal) but the clincher is that when I booted my computer up, nothing on the computer was mine!! They had loaded someone else's programs, photos, documents. etc onto my laptop. I had to take it back and hoped to god they had my data on a drive in their magical little geek shop somewhere. Turns out they were unable to recover any of my data and told me there was a possibility that my data was unrecoverable to start with. I suppose that is believable, but still completely sucks. They did however do their very best to make me happy. They refunded my money and re-installed all the programs they could plus a few upgrades at no cost. My computer is working fine thus far but is completely blank. The owner of the company and the technician working on my computer were very apologetic and swore this had never happened in their 18 years of service. Mistakes happen, but I just hope this mistake doesn't happen to anyone else. read more