The PC manufacturer has unveiled Dell Island in Second Life, featuring a "factory" where visitors can customize computers that will be delivered to their real-life doorstep.

Dell Island will also have a computer museum, a conference room that Dell will use for focus groups and meetings, and a virtual replica of the dorm room where Michael Dell began piecing together computers, reports AdWeek.

Dell is the latest in a rush of advertisers to land in the virtual world. Toyota, American Apparel, IBM and Starwood Hotels have all established themselves in Second Life. The lure, said Ro Parra, Dell's senior vice-president and general manager of the home and business group, is to connect consumers' virtual lives with their real-world needs.