>Anyone care to make a recommendation on what they consider the best VM. I am familiar with virtualbox, and also VM Player. I have 8 gig of RAM and i7-2670QM on a new Lenovo notebook, with Windows 7.
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>I realize that Win 7 Pro has a XP mode, but I need to be able to run linux and also perhaps XP.

I've had excellent results with limited use of VirtualBox. I understand VMWare Workstation is also well-regarded, you can get some comparison information by Googling [vmware workstation vs virtualbox 2011].

XP Mode/Virtual PC feels like a toy in comparison. I also had one client who used it to set up a somewhat involved XP environment on a brand new high-end Dell, only to have it quit working a couple of weeks later and have to redo the whole thing - a support nightmare.