It was no longer a significant factor in the industry by the time less-expensive CP/M computers with built-in displays (and soft-sectored drives), such as the Osborne and the Kaypro, were released.

[5] North Star's next product was a hard sectored floppy disk system based on a 5-inch Shugart Associates SA-400 mechanism with 89 kB capacity.

It had one or two single-sided single or double density hard sectored floppy disk drives (externally expandable to 3 or 4), and serial interfaces connected it to a computer terminal and a printer.

It also included many chips on the motherboard that would otherwise require separate S-100 cards in other systems, thereby allowing the machine to operate "out of the box" with minimal setup.

The Advantage was known for its 640×240 graphics capabilities and was sold with four demonstration programs, one of which plotted and calculated a pattern of lines reminiscent of the Arcade game Qix.

When the Advantage was introduced NorthStar had moved its offices, manufacturing and warehousing facilities to 14440 Catalina St. in San Leandro, California.

However, the growing success of the IBM PC diminished demand for North Star's CP/M-based offerings, and the company reported losses in 1983.

[10][11] The deal fell through in October 1984, however, with North Star and Fortune agreeing to collaborate on forthcoming hardware projects nonetheless.

[12] Among North Star's last products was an upgrade to the Dimension—the Dimension 300—in 1987,[13]: 326  and the EL family of multi-user system ISA expansion cards for the PC, based on the Intel 8088, 286 and 386, in 1988.