[4] The ABC 80 was based on an earlier modular computer system from the same company[5] and built around a Z80 and 16 KB of ROM containing a fast semi-compiling BASIC interpreter.

It had 16–32 KB of RAM as main memory and a dedicated (included) tape recorder for program and data storage, but could also be expanded to handle disk drives as well as many other peripherals.

The monitor was a black and white TV set modified for the purpose, an obvious choice since Luxor also made TVs.

The computer was robust and well engineered, mechanically and electrically, and its BASIC was fast enough that it could be used to write arcade games, without resorting to assembly language.

However, despite such technical virtues, it couldn't defend the home market against the dedicated gaming computers with color and sound that appeared in the early 1980s, neither against the cheap ultra simplistic home computers of the same era,[8] even though a new low cost version was released that could use an ordinary TV instead of the dedicated monitor.