Students are a first priority at the new Tech Rangers Service Center in the welcome center.
By Brandon A. Edwards
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
This college will open a tech services department at 8 a.m. Tuesday in the SAC Tech Store inside Duran Welcome Center at 1819 N. Main Ave.
The SAC Tech Store will offer free consultations, demonstrations on new technology such as the Oculus Rift and refreshments.
The first 50 people in the door will receive a gift from the Tech Store.
When this college’s tech store opened in August, it was recognized only as an Apple-authorized campus store. It began by offering select Apple, Dell, HP and Microsoft products.
With the addition of the Tech Rangers, it will become the first community college in Texas to be an authorized service center, service technician Chris Arriaga said Monday.
The Tech Rangers is a team of licensed service technicians trained by Apple, Dell, HP and Microsoft.
Of the four who will work in the department after the opening, all four will service Dell, HP and Microsoft. Two of those will also service apple products, store manager Ana Ortega said.
The SAC Tech Store is an official Apple service provider that will offer services on warranty and non-warranty Apple, Dell, HP and Microsoft computers.
Services will include diagnostic exams, virus removal, operating system installation and configuration, system back up services, hard drive and RAM upgrades, screen replacements and software installation.
Service charges vary from Apple to PC.
A diagnostics scan will cost $50 for either computer, but a hard drive replacement in an Apple computer will cost $120, while on a PC it would cost $100.
“Think of this as a mini Apple store,” Prevott said. “Anything we can do in store we will do.”
With the Tech Rangers on campus, students will move to the head of the line, unlike a normal Apple service center.
“If I have a line of 20 community members waiting for service, a student comes in with a valid Alamo Colleges ID and Banner number, I take them first,” services manager Aaron Prevott said.
The SAC Tech store is an official Apple service provider outfitted with tools needed to provide services not only for students at this college but also the public.
Arriaga said this location is the southern-most authorized Apple service provider in Texas.
Other Apple service providers in San Antonio are at La Cantera and North Star Mall.
“The sales benefits are for Alamo College students, but the services and repairs will be for the entire community,” Arriaga said.
Students and community members will be able to receive service and repairs the same day.
For more information, contact the SAC Tech Store at 210-486-0942 or visit www.sactechstore.org.