The performance of deadbeat control systems is addressed. Analysis of conventional deadbeat control (CDC) reveals that, in addition to deadbeat tracking performance, other system properties, such as robustness and noise immunity, may need improvement. A model reference deadbeat control (MRDC) is proposed to remedy such deficiencies of CDC systems. Several examples are given to show that the MRDC scheme is better than the CDC scheme in attaining good transient response, noise immunity and robustness if a suitable reference model is selected.