Connecting Point

This place is amazing. I had an issue with my computer charging, requiring the installation of a new part, and they fixed it the same day. I am a student and, right now, everything I need is online, often requiring a specific browser that I cannot access from my phone or another device other than my computer. They seriously saved me.
I highly recommend taking your mac here.

Ignore all of the other negative reviews and read this one:
I stopped by Connecting Point on a snowy afternoon with my Macbook Pro that was not communicating with it’s hard drive. When I walked in I was greeted by a very nice young girl who was not at all disrespectful or condescending but rather very sweet and helpful. After running a diagnostic test she handed off my mac to one of the techs to replace a wire.
After a short wait the tech called me back to show that my computer was good as new and gave me great advice on how to keep my Macbook running quickly and how to prevent any damage to my hard drive.
My entire experience there was positive and the people who work there are extremely knowledgable and down to earth. All of these previous reviews are extremely judging and condescending and maybe the people that wrote the reviews need to learn how to be better consumers of customer service.
Overall I would recommend Connecting Point to anyone who is going through computer issues, Mac or PC. The bonus for me as a Mac user is that this location is covered under Applecare and I didn’t even have to reach for my credit card.

The connecting point is a messy, dirty room on one of the nicest streets in State College. Perhaps I am biased since I have worked in the customer service industry for over a decade now. First as an entry level employee and now as the owner of my own storefront business in the same town. I expect a decently high level of service when I enter an establishment in the town I grew up in and love. The owner is a man that has more than likely spent most of his life with a computer in front of his face since he has customer service skills akin to a blue screen of death. The younger technicians seem to be generally happy and are mostly friendly, but there are still times when I have called or dropped off a computer that the feeling I have gotten is one of annoyance. Perhaps I was pulling them away from an important guild meeting in WoW, or perhaps they had found the one ring and were too busy in the back of the room discussing how to dispose of it. I have taken my computers here more due to convenience, but I may try other places in the future in order to be helped more efficiently and friendly. The only reason for 2 stars is that at least the repairs that have been done have lasted. I do appreciate that.

This is basically a couple of techs not trained in service but with and by computers. They know their stuff, but, ahem, they have a very technical view of things. I’ve bought stuff from them a few times, and each time it’s gone fairly well. I’ve had stuff sent in, and things got done but disks were not fully backed up, but perhaps as well as could be done given the disk.
But, it has that edge to it that means that the interaction could go badly if you are in the wrong, and it’s entirely possible that the boss would yell at you, and a more than 50% chance you are wrong and a 10% chance you deserve it because you have made a dunderhead move and it’s in your interest long term to be yelled at (or so they would think, caring about you (reminds me of Herwigs, but less willfully rude). They are not gracious but are smart and well read.
I would and have gone back. I do recommend them.

Whoa. If I had checked Unilocal before calling Connecting Point to see if they would install RAM on my computer, I might not have tried them. I’m actually glad I didn’t, because I had a great experience.
I called Connecting Point on the fly, late on a Friday afternoon, because my computer was running really slow. After taking other steps it was obvious that the stalling & pinwheeling was because a lack of adequate RAM. The guy who answered (who was the owner) was brief in letting me know that yes, they have the RAM cards in stock, and that yes, they could install it while I waited, and right away.
I could have driven out to King of Prussia, or Philadelphia, or Pittsburgh to take it to an Apple Store. I could have sent it off to Apple. Hell, I could have bought the memory from Tiger Direct and put it in myself. But I am willing to pay more for convenience and speed — as this computer is vital to my work right now — so I decided to check them out. And I don’t trust myself to do surgery on my computer.
When I walked in, the owner remembered me and immediately took the computer, opened it, and added the needed RAM. He put the old RAM in the new packaging and gave it back. He closed it up and tested it, and it worked great. The whole process took 15 minutes, and the price was reasonable. My computer is much, much faster now. The added hardware has a lifetime warranty.
I chatted with the owner for a bit, who let me know that he’s been working on computers in State College since 1982, and has been at the current location (next to Appalachian Outdoors on Allen) since 1999.
The actual store is a cluttered and messy basement location. There are parts and cables everywhere. It has more the feel of a workshop than a retail store. But they did good, quick work with a minimum of hassle, so I can’t complain.
Apparently, being an Authorized Apple Service Provider is no joke. I’m glad State College has one. I’d certainly use them again.
Oh, and they show up on Google Maps as «Micro Computer Centre Inc».

My Macbook Pro started acting weird with screen flickering and freezing. Looking up online and performing a basic triage suggested that it was an video card problem. I called Apple Support and they told me that I could bring the laptop to Connecting Point as it’s an authorized repair shop and it would be covered by my warranty.
I brought the laptop to Connecting Point, explaining the symtom with a video I recorded showing the screen flickering. The guy also believed that it’s likely a video card issue and the replacement would be covered by warranty. However, the next day I received a call to pickup my laptop. This time it was another person and he said the problem was due to hard drive corruption. Based on my initial triaged, I was quite certain that it wasn’t the hard drive fault. But the guy insisted and I gave the benefit of the doubt. I was $ 60 for hard drive failure because the drive I had was third-​party and won’t be covered by AppleCare. That’s fair if the problem was due to hard drive.
After I came back, I googled for a way to run hardware diagnosis and found that every Mac includes Apple Hardware Test with the installation CD. I ran it and within minutes it showed that the video card is faulty.
I brought the machine back and let them know that the problem wasn’t the harddrive but the video card. At first, without letting me explain, argued that if they said it was hard drive then it’s definitely the hard drive, until I mentioned the code they were ok to try to run the diagnostic software and found the exact same error code.
Although it is obvious that the problem was due to the video card and it will be covered by AppleCare. They didn’t refund me $ 60 I paid for their «mis-​diagnostic», but rather came up with irrelevant/​rude arguments with me. There was a problem and they did not find it for whatever reason, and they thinks it’s reasonable to charge me for that.
So do yourself a favor, if you have an issue with your Mac, just send it to Apple directly. Although it might takes 2 days more for the shipping, you will be dealing with a lot more respectful and professional persons, who won’t try to rip you off.

Well then. Before I picked up my computer yesterday, I would have given the Connection Point 4, and maybe, 5 stars. But, apparently being the only place in town that can repair under Applecare gives you credence to be insanely disrespectful to customers. I’ve worked in customer service on both ends for years, and this was the *worst* experience I’ve ever had.
When I was phoned saying that my computer was fixed, I asked about the data; I was told that the hard drive was going to be blank, and that to transfer my data would cost $ 75. I told them to transfer my data due to a handbook chapter I am writing that wasn’t backed up, which I needed. When I went to go pick up the computer, I just wanted to alert the tech that I was never told that my data would not be transferred, and that I think it should be policy to alert customers in clear language that the hard drive would be blank. I had my external hard drive with me when I dropped it off, and had I been told that the data would not be transferred, I would have backed it up then and the whole situation would have been avoided.
At this point, the manager of the Connecting Point came out of the back room on the offensive. He stated that anyone who knew enough to bring a computer in for repairs should know that data would not be transferred with a hard drive replacement. I find it extremely rude to basically insinuate that I am not intelligent enough to understand his business. I was then informed that informing the customer is policy, and that policy was violated with my interaction. At that point, he told me that it was my fault for not understanding his assumption and his employee violating protocol, and would not even apologize for the miscommunication. I paid the $ 75, and the employee I had originally been talking to apologized for my extremely poor experience, specifically with the rudeness of the manager.
Basically, kudos to you, employee who apologized. The work is quality, Laptar is working great (Yeah, it reminds me of Reptar from the Rugrats,) but given the choice I would not patronize them.