Despite initial success, the Dragon faced technical limitations in graphics capabilities and hardware-supported text modes, which restricted its appeal in the gaming and educational markets.

The Dragon computers were built around the Motorola MC6809E processor and featured a composite monitor port, allowing connection to (at the time) modern TVs.

The graphics capabilities trailed behind other computers such as the ZX Spectrum and BBC Micro, a significant shortcoming for the games market.

[1] Additionally, as a cost-cutting measure, the hardware-supported text modes only included upper case characters; this restricted the system's appeal to the educational market.

It was possible to increase the speed of the computer by using POKE 65495,0 which accelerated the ROM-resident BASIC interpreter, but temporarily disabled proper functioning of the cassette/printer ports.

Manufacturing variances mean that not all Dragons were able to function at this higher speed, and use of this POKE could cause some units to crash or be unstable, though with no permanent damage.

[vague] The computer featured a composite monitor port as an alternative to the TV RF output which can be used to connect the Dragon 32 to most modern TVs to deliver a much better picture.

[5] The units had a robust motherboard in a spacious case, reminiscent of the BBC Micro, and so were more tolerant of aftermarket modification than some of their contemporaries, which often had their components crammed into the smallest possible space.

Each mode has two possible colour palettes – these are rather garish and cause the system to fare poorly in visual comparisons with other home computers of the time.

[6] Full-colour, scanline-based 64×192 semi-graphics modes are also possible, though their imbalanced resolution and programming difficulty (not being accessible via BASIC) meant they were not often utilised.

This led to confusion and frustration, with customers finding they had either purchased a version incompatible with their setup, or that the software was only available for the competing standard.

[5] In common with home computers of the time, the entire operating software was included on a ROM chip; therefore, the system starts instantly when powered up.

In addition to the DragonDOS disk operating system, the Dragon 32/64 is capable of running several others, including FLEX, and even OS-9 which brought UNIX-like multitasking to the platform.

Top-selling games available for the Dragon include Arcadia (Imagine), Chuckie Egg (A&F), Manic Miner and sequel Jet Set Willy (Software Projects), Hunchback (Ocean) and Football Manager (Addictive).

Both the Dragon and the TRS-80 Color Computer are based on a Motorola data sheet design for the MC6883 SAM (MMU) chip for memory management and peripheral control.

Software running via the built-in Basic interpreters also has a high level of compatibility, but only after they are re-tokenized, which can be achieved fairly easily by transferring via cassette tape with appropriate options.