Not compatible with any other machines, it offered VG5000 BASIC (derived from Microsoft BASIC-80) as the operating system upon boot. Graphic ability was limited to a semigraphic symbol display, with the equivalent resolution of 320 x 250 in 8 colors. There are about forty games available for the system.[10][11][12][13]
300 000 units were sold in 1984, according to an internal Philips report, with 500 000 predicted for 1985.[14]
Aimed at schools,[15] it was unsuccessful and production ended in 1986.[16] As of 2022, enthusiasts remain active in developing new homebrew software and emulators for the system.[17][18][19][20][21][22]
RAM: 24KB, including 16KB of system memory (expandable to 48KB) and 8KB of dedicated memory for the video processor[14]
ROM: 18KB,[14] including 16KB containing the VG5000 BASIC (derived from Microsoft BASIC-80)[24] and 2KB of character bitmaps built into the video processor
^NECK, Fabien (2018). "Philips - VG 5000". system-cfg - Collection d ordinateurs anciens et de consoles de jeux.
^"Philips VG 5000". Le grenier informatique - Site sur la restauration et la collection des anciens ordinateurs. 2020-08-06. Archived from the original on 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2022-11-13.