Mr. Notebook

Honest dudes here. They gave me the Apple 1 – 800 number for repair and kinda told me what to say to them, wink wink. My WIFI card was suspect and my particular 17″ notebook Pro ha had many, many complaints on the WiFi problem. It was so bad that a class action lawsuit was a slam dunk. I shipped it to Memphis, they called me and for $ 300 Apple mailed me a new 15″ Macbook Pro (17″ is discontinued) pulled my hard drive because I needed that it has valuable photos on it, and sent me a brand new external hard drive (Apple made) So Mr. Notebook, instead of thinking, how much can I make off this guy, told me a solution that saved me money. You will not find this degree of ethics anywhere in business I challenge you to find a company this honest. Thanks guys that’s why you have been in business for 20 years it’s called: GOOD KARMA! Cheers, Jim

Terrible wait time for a hardware computer repair that should have been done the same week. I dropped it on Monday at lunch, they said the diagnostic technician would call in a day or two w/​diagnosis. I called them FRIDAY to hound them and they had to call me back at the end of the day.
When they called w/​diagnosis at close the estimated cost of «part» TRIPLED! I should have said no thank you but needed to salvage my computer so I said go ahead and repair. They said the ordered parts would take 3 – 5 business days max. When I called the following Monday (one week without) they confirmed the parts were ordered Friday so the latest they should have arrived was last Friday. It’s now Tuesday and I called and asked and they said the parts were still not in. I asked to cancel my repair request b/​c it’s been 1.5 weeks and parts aren’t even there.
As soon as I hung up, I get a call right back saying my parts are there and they can have it to me by the end of the day?
FISHY!
Oh, and when I called… the rep answered the phone, HELLO?
Umm, is this a business? Mr. Notebook?

I’m agree completely with the last reviewer. I took my computer in before it changed owners and they were wonderful to work with. About a month ago I had to take it back and it wasn’t such a great experience. The screen that they replaced for me back in early summer was corroded and the warranty had expired by 2 weeks. While they cut me some slack because my hard drive crashed too, they wouldn’t do anything about the screen. It obviously was manufacturer defect so should have been free. I probably won’t use them again.

My computer was scammed and experienced remote access along with virus installations. Misty worked really hard and was able to fix my computer! Trustworthy and reliable store!

Took my daughter’s laptop into Mr. Notebook in West Campus as it was running very slow. They said it would take 7 – 10 business days. As a student, she mentioned she couldn’t be without it that long, so with a «let me see what I can do», he cleaned up a lot of junk on it and offered us additional suggestions that we could do on our own while we waited. I will absolutely go to Mr. Notebook with any computer problem I have in the future.

They removed a virus from my laptop at a reasonable price and now it’s running a lot smoother. Steve did an awesome job. I highly recommend them.

If you have an older laptop go here. I have a 17″ MacPro with a flashing pink screen. Took it to MacTronics they wanted $ 90 to look, $ 599 for display and another $ 125 for labor. Pewy. Took to Mr. Notebook, it was not the screen!!! Don’t let people guess with your money. They are working on the real issue. These repair shops are a lot like car repair. Experience always wins the day and they have it.

I had a software update problem. I explained everything to PC Genie, the leading computer fixing store in west campus and they told me I would only get it back in 3 days and that it would cost $ 75. So I called Mr Notebook to see how much they would charge but he told me he couldn’t give me an estimate til he looked at the computer. So I brought it in and it was something that he fixed within 10 minutes without charge!

I bought a gently used Acer laptop from Mr. Notebook six months ago. I traded in my Dell laptop at the time and did not ask about a warranty on my new Acer. I do not know what I was thinking BUT — I do think Mr. Notebook should offer a one year warranty on machines they are selling. They DO NOT. Two weeks ago my Acer laptop started turning off for no apparent reason, over and over again. I took it in for diagnostic tests. Two different times I called in to check the status and was told I would be called by the end of business that day, I never received calls back. After TWO weeks. when I had to call in again myself to check in, I was told the motherboard was a goner and there was no warranty at all on the machine.
I will NOT be going back to this store ever again.

I thought I should write another review of Mr. Notebook due to my most recent experience there which was nothing like the first. I don’t know if they’ve changed help, owners or what but I will not be going back there. Service was poor, slow and indifferent. Not to mention, when I got home with my «repaired» notebook, it didn’t work. They said, originally, it would be a couple of days to fix and they’d call me. Of course it was a week and they never called, I continually called them. And then it didn’t work. Took it back and they said they’d fix it asap. Haha. I also don’t appreciate hearing employees talk about their problems. When I took the notebook in, there were a couple of us waiting and the only employee kept bitching about the other employees not showing up, etc… I should have known then to get out. But I didn’t!

Writing my first Unilocal review ever for Jason, my lifesaver @Mr.Notebook! Thanks for miraculously fixing my broken HP laptop fan at no cost so I didn’t have to shell out ~300bucks to purchase new parts! I can now run my CFD models all week to meet my project deadline. You made my day!

Fell asleep while studying on my laptop on the couch and woke up to it falling off my lap onto the floor. Less than a week before my national board exam to obtain a medical license. Doh. Screen was cracked in several places. SERIOUSLYYYYY.
Researched some places on Unilocal to see who could fix it. Decided to go with this place since I was hoping they would be more likely to have the screen and my boyfriend knew of them when he was in college at UT.
Drove out there one morning, showed them the damage and got an estimate in about 10 minutes. They didn’t have the screen and had to order it and asked that I pay up front (they referred to it as a «deposit»).
Got the call a few days later that it was fixed and I decided to swing by on my lunch break to pick it up. Everything was all good except when I tried to ask about a Unilocal check-​in deal that I got on my phone, the guy took about 15 – 20 minutes asking about it even though no one else was there. Meanwhile my lunch break had since passed…
But the point is they fixed my laptop and quickly. It did cost me over $ 200, which sucked. A lot. But that seems to be about the price of new screens it seems. Anymore computer issues and I’ll be going back to them.

I brought in my 6 year old Compaq Desktop computer as it seemed I’d finally filled up my hard drive and discovered a virus as well. They found me an incredible deal on an additional hard drive, 1 ½ Terabyte — Huge jump in memory. Also, they double my RAM speed and removed the virus. All for just $ 200.00. It took a couple of weeks to make it all happen but it was well worth it. And lastly, they found that my hard drive had been running compressed which really slows everything down.
They went above and beyond. I’m super impressed and HIGHLY recommend these guys.

I bought a new, larger hard drive for my Dell D430 and could not get it installed correctly or get the computer to recognize the drive when I tried to reinstall the OS. I went to Mr Notebook and Mike immediately noticed that the ribbon was not attached properly to the drive. When I told him that I was then going to take it home and reinstall the OS and then restore my files with Carbonite which would take MANY hours to accomplish, he said that he could reinstall the OS in 15 minutes and clone the old drive and install in an hour. Heck yeah! I left the computer to run errands, came back two hours later and bought a new battery…
Total bill? $ 176 !! So totally worth it!
My laptops go to Mr. Notebook from now on, many thanks Mike!

The staff are very, very nice. That’s about the best I can do.
There’s a surprising dearth of decent computer repair placesin Austin, for such a tech-​heavy town, and for laptops with hardware issues, this seemed to be the best bet. I was a little alarmed by the condition of the shop, because the neatness level often says a lot about the way a place is run. The front of the shop is piled high with boxes and computer bags, inexplicably jammed into a huge rack by the door. The back area has a door that really should be kept shut, because if a customer sees back there, they’ll want to scream and run. It is literally littered with hundreds of laptops stacked one atop the other, and the floor is covered in various bits of electronic flotsam and jetsam.
A tall guy was at the desk when I came in, though he was helping another customer. Just on the other side of the glass behind him, two younger guys were chatting away. The door was open, so it was clear the conversation wasn’t work related. The tall guy told them, twice, to come out and help the customers. I appreciated it, but he shouldn’t have had to ask. That was the first red flag.
One of them finally came out and looked at the laptop. I noticed the pricing board listed wait times which were surprisingly long, but figured it was because they were in demand and took it as a good sign. «We’ll call you.» Nope, they didn’t. Eventually, after several days of being very patient, called them. — Oh, the problem was fixed a couple days ago. Waiting to see if we can locate another part you might need (not an essential part — just a could-​be-​useful part). We’ll call you in a few hours. — Nope. Call again. And again. Getting in touch with these guys is surprisingly difficult. Getting them to give you even a ballpark clue of when your machine will be ready is pretty much impossible.
Finally, after weeks, told the computer is ready and go to pick it up. Drive all the way up there to find that in fact, it is not ready. Wait for a long time which the technician finishes. He comes back out with the laptop, and it’s now missing parts that it came in with. Some are just gone — others have been replaced with bits from another machine. Computer is now a technical Frankenstein.
The explanation given is that they came off and he has several computers on the desk so sometimes the parts get mixed up. My jaw was on the ground. Wouldn’t a repair shop have a system in place (and by «system» I mean «ziploc bag») to make sure that the pieces stay with the machine they came from?!
Best part? It didn’t even work. Took it back, and they said they tested the component, but clearly missed something because it was not repaired. So, they had it a good week or 10 days longer than necessary (vs. when they first said it was fixed), and then the «fix» didn’t even take. Another expensive component was necessary to get it going again.
Again, the people who work there are nice, but with the exception of the tall guy, the professionalism is just not happening. It was a very frustrating and disappointing experience. I used to go to PC Guru, and will be going back there instead next time I need a repair.

It’s already been over what they estimated my wait time to be. I understand it’s just that, an estimation, but I don’t understand why they haven’t even looked at my computer in over a week. Maybe I’m being naïve in hoping it will be faster for them to fix it rather than me pick it up and bring it somewhere else.
I haven’t had much need for repair shops in the past but when I have, Laboratory Computers has had a very fast turnaround. I suppose I’m just spoiled.
To their credit, the guy at Mr. Notebook did try to get me right when I was in-​store. He was pleasant and helpful, but like someone else mentioned, I should have known something was up when I saw a huge shelf, lined to the brim with laptops.

I brought my broken laptop here in December. I was told it would be 2 weeks before my computer would be fixed since it was the holidays and people were out of town. Totally understandable. I let two weeks go by without hearing anything. I gave them a couple more days, then I called to ask about my computer. They said they’d be getting to it in a couple of days and I should be hearing from them soon. I let another week go by and still no word from Mr. Notebook.
At this point I was so frustrated that I drove over there to demand my computer so I could take it to Fry’s instead. The guy at the counter showed me my laptop on a shelf filled with at least a hundred other computers. A sticker on the side with my name on it had been highlighted. «This means you’ve called us about it and we’ll be getting to it soon, so are you sure you want to take it now? It’ll probably be just another day or two…». Um, no. It had been over THREE WEEKS and you initially told me I’d have it back in two. You haven’t even looked at it yet! And I call asking about it, so you highlight a sticker instead of actually looking at the thing? Great business strategy there…
I should have known from my initial impression of the place that they weren’t going to meet my expectations. The place is filthy. As in strewn papers and garbage on the floor. A big copy machine skewed at an angle in the middle of the room. Piles of laptops, piles of laptop carrying cases. And you can see through a window into their back store room and it’s just madness. I don’t know how anyone who runs a business could function in such chaos. Clearly, they’re not doing it right. And yeah, I agree with another poster who said that a bunch of the people that work there looked high. Whatever, I’m a stoner too, but not at work.

When my lovely, almost new DELL XPS (more like POS) crapped out a few months back, I located these guys thanks to Unilocal.
They fixed my POS in no time flat (after I told them money didn’t matter because no biz=no munee hunee bunee and it WAS Friday and I had better things to do than stress about my DELL POS) and so, within a few hours, I was back up and running.
Now for those sensitive types that get offended if a computer wizard is aloof or odd, I say don’t sweat it. After all, some of these guys are brilliant at what they do and they think we’re all a bunch of imbeciles unworthy of fine technological craftsmanship used for updating Unilocal reviews instead of crushing cyborgs from outer space or breaching Pentagon hard drives.
Anyway, I would recommend these guys for sure.
As far as DELL and Microsoft Vista are concerned, they can go to HELL for selling such crap to the public.
BTW, ZERO points to DELL customer service in Bangalore or Bangladesh or whichever 3^rd world country they’ve pimped out.
Between long wait times, getting hung up on, false promises to make things right, bad accents, etc, I gave up and am resolved NEVER to buy another DELL, ever.
As for Vista, well, Bill Gates is totally unoriginal and shortsighted compared to Steve Jobs. My next tech ride is gonna be a MAC baybee!

Purchased Suz a laptop for Christmas a couple of years back. It was an IBM Thinkpad… it was a little more money than I wanted to spend, but it was for my sweetie. Unfortunately, Suz didn’t dig the IBM, little things irked her about it. So I went back to Mr. Notebook with my tail between my legs asking for a return. NO PROBLEM, I was told and then found a Dell which was a little cheaper and thought the Suz would like it. They swamped out the puters, refunded the difference in price and I was on my way home with a new offering to my master.
She loved it and all was well in the world. Fast foward a couple of years. my work laptop crapped out on me. So I needed to ship it out to our corporate repair center and then I bummed Suzies laptop in order to have some internet access at my office. I thought I needed to download the DSL disc I originally received from ATT… apparently not… no internet and now her puter was frozen no shortcuts appeared on the desktop, no start bar showed up… I was fk’ed and super pissed at ATT. After an hour on the phone they couldn’t fix the problem their software had inflicted on Suz’s puter.
I thought, well I’ll take it back down to Mr. Notebook and get a diagnosis. When I arrived a tech was working with another couples laptop. As stuff was loading on that puter, he started working on mine at the same time. An immediate fix was not at hand so I had to drop it off. It was going to be a 7 day wait since UT just started and they were swamped.
A week passed and I got a call from the tech, he had gone through most everything and found a networking problem, thanks again you wankers at ATT, and fixed it. I went to pick up my machine… and low and behold the cost was free. Yup. nada. Freebie… It’s part of their service guarantee when you purchase a machine from these folks… Great service, great machines, reasonable prices, Austin owned. I am definitely a Fan…

I can’t, in good conscience, give them 5 stars because I did not have my computer repaired here.
One of the fine gentleman did, however, take a look at my laptop and confirm my darkest suspicions… that «Ol’ Bessy» had most likely moved on to the great Laptop dock in the sky. I was told that my data was secure, but the motherboard would be pointless to replace for the cost. As much as I loved my laptop, I gotta say that dropping several hundred dollars on it’s aging bones wasn’t what I was planning on.
The tech was honest, straightforward with what they offered and why, and gave me a detailed account of possible options for replacement if I wished. There was no push whatsoever, and the guy knew his stuff.
I will hopefully never return… only because that would mean I need to have something repaired again. But if I do need to… this is where I will go.