The "Computer Know-How" sections were swamped with eager customers, overwhelming the 300 staff who had been trained to demonstrate the machines; a Financial Times correspondent wrote of being "dazed and bewildered by the crowds of schoolchildren clustered round the ZX81 in your local branch of W.H. Smith."
As seccións de "coñecemento informático" foron asolagadas con clientes ávidos, atafegando os 300 vendedores que foron adestrados para demostrar as máquinas; un correspondente do Financial Times escribiu estar "atordado e perplexo polas multitudes de estudantes agrupados ó redor do ZX81 na tenda local da W.H. Smith."