[2] The machine was manufactured by Ferranti, nine of whose ULA chips had been used to minimise the component count on the main system board, and sold "exclusively" through high street retailer WHSmith, at least initially.

A year of on-site service was included in the price of the Model B, this being regarded as "worth several hundred pounds" and superior to the support for any other contemporary microcomputer with the exception of the DEC Rainbow.

Ostensibly as a consequence of the legal uncertainties, and with WHSmith also reporting "disappointing" sales, Ferranti announced that it would take over distribution of the machine in early 1985.

RGB, television and composite video outputs were provided, but a monitor with a sufficiently high horizontal resolution was recommended for use of the high-resolution display.

[4] Reviewers also disapproved of the need to cut away at the plastic case with a sharp knife to fit expansion slots, this risking injury to the user.

Microsoft Flight Simulator, regarded as "the acid test of any so-called compatible",[3] along with software such as WordStar,[2] Lotus 1-2-3,[8] and numerous other packages, largely worked without error with only occasional exceptions.

[7] Others regarded the upgrade route as not offering particularly good value for money, noting deficiencies in the build quality and design of the machine.

However, such a system could hardly be regarded as IBM PC-compatible without disks or expansion slots, and cassette software availability was "extremely limited, if not non-existent".

Meanwhile, the Australian market had already started to offer Taiwanese PC compatibles competitive on price and features with the Challenger.