[6]: 247  CDP were deep in development of another microcomputer based on an entirely different architecture but decided to cancel it in favor of producing a clone of the IBM PC.

[6]: 248  CDP doubled the stock amount of RAM of the IBM PC to 128 KB while adding more expansion slots and offering dual 5.25-inch floppy disk drives for the base model.

[8] Because of the additional expansion slots, the motherboard for the computer was substantially larger than that of the IBM PC's, measuring at 10 by 20 inches (25 by 51 cm).

[10][11] CDP had to pay careful attention to how their BIOS initialized its memory map and interrupt table in order to ensure functional equivalency with the IBM PC, the source of much trial and error and expense because of the numerous third-party expansion cards and software CDP had to test against.

[6]: 249 [12] CDP were able to secure a license to the source code for MS-DOS, incorporating the same API while modifying it to recognize their computer's RAM disk, on which their clone of GW-BASIC (renamed BASICA) resides, while adding software flow control to the computer's number-0 RS-232 serial port and redirecting textual parallel printer data to the aforementioned serial port.

[14]: 451 [a] While the MPC 1600-1 did not ship with a hard drive, CDP included the same combination floppy–hard disk controller card with the machine as the higher-end models, for users who wanted to add an aftermarket HDD.

Unlike the IBM PC, however, the MPC 1600 series does not offer sockets on the motherboards for expanding the RAM of the systems.

[9]: 30 [7]: 450  With aftermarket serial expansion cards (contemporaneously sold by CDP), up to eight simultaneous users can interact with the MPC using dumb terminals.

[9]: 30 Columbia Data Systems unveiled the MPC 1600 at their booth at the National Computer Conference (NCC) in Houston, Texas, in June 1982.

[5][3] By the end of CDP's presence at the NCC, the company had secured international orders for the MPC worth $10 million across 200 dealers in Europe and South America.

[24] Furthermore, in August 1984, CDP posted a $2 million quarterly loss, evidencing diminished interest in the MPC 1600 line, which prompted layoffs at the company's Maryland and Puerto Rico factories as well as the cancellation of the raising of a new production facility in Ireland.

[21][23] In April 1986, Godfather's Used Computer Syndicate, a long-time vendor of CDP's MPC line based in Forest City, Florida, acquired CDP's intellectual property and assets and revived the Columbia Data Products name, selling off the company's remaining unsold inventory while announcing new PC compatibles.

[14] Writing retrospectively in 2006, PC World called the MPC 1600 the ninth greatest personal computer of all time.