Later models would build in the floppy drives. The original model didn't include external storage, but supported an external tape drive or 5.25' floppies. Audio began with a PC speaker, but later models included the YM2149F, OPN, and, eventually the OPNA. The later more impressive models could handle 640x200 at 16-bit color, or 640x400 with 256 colors chosen from a 16-bit palette. The 1981 model's video modes included a typical 80x25 text mode at 16 colors, or three graphics modes: 640x200 with 8 colors, 640x400 with 2 colors, or a mode backward compatible with the PC-8000 series, 160x100 pixels with 8 colors.
For the entire span of the computer's life, it's graphic display was superior to the American IBM line, no doubt necessary to accommodate the more complex Japanese characters. All models used 48 KB of video RAM except those which supported 16-bit color, which needed 256 KB of VRAM. The system began with 64 KB of RAM and reached 512 KB for the most impressive models. It was initially clocked at 4 MHz in the 1981 model, but it reached 8 MHz by the end of the series in 1989.
NEC used their own CPU, a clone of the Zilog Z80, to run the entire series.
