There were an estimated 250 million pcs in use in 1997, and sales of pcs were approaching 100 million annually. Michael dell believed there would be 1.4 billion pcs in use within 10 years. Going into 1998, household penetration of pcs was estimated to be 45 percent. There were over 5 million new pc-owning households in 1997, many lured by the introduction of reasonably equipped sub-1000 pcs. The three most influential factors in the household. Household penetration was expected to exceed 50 percent by the year 2000.