Windows 7: Cannot decide virtual or second partition - advice please

I am undecided which method to go for, either as a virtual machine or partition my XP Pro C:\drive.
I have never used anything like vmware, it is new to me. Whereas years ago I did dual boot 98se with XP.
Which is preferable today:
To halve my 160gig C:\drive and do a clean install of Windows 7 in the new (80gig) partition which means that I will dual boot with my existing XP Pro.
Or, try my hand at learning to use vmware...

I'd say you do a clean install on a second partition. VMWare won't let you experience all the new features tha Windows 7 gives you.

If you want to try VMWARE, you can install Windows 7 and install VMWARE too to see how it works, either in Windows 7 or XP. From there, you can set up a new installation of Windows7, Vista, XP or whatever you want.

VMWARE or Virtual PC are mostly for testing purposes, or for safety reasons, or a backup solution. E.g. I have 3-4 OSes running on VMWARE, and I open each one whenever I want to find a feature how it works so I can explain it to a customer. But that's it. You won't have graphics acceleration, aero theme etc in VMWARE or Virtual PC.

If you have the ability to install on a new partition , do so.

limneos, thanks for that. You have confirmed my thinking