Multi-OS setup: dual/multi-boot vs virtualbox

[Max Pyziur]

Greetings,

I'm a novice at assessing the question of  multi-boot vs using 
virtualbox.

I've seen a lot of discussion on this topic on this email list; some of it 
expressed with frustration ("I can't upgrade my Fedora installation 
because of my multi-boot setup ..."; or "why use a multi-boot system; use 
VirtualBox").

So my general interest is to continue using Fedora as my primary OS; but 
enough times, I need to use the MS Office suite.

I have a laptop (Dell Latitude E6220 with MS Windows 7 factory-installed; 
750GB HD, 8GB RAM). I've begun a few multi-boot installations using 
Fedora, to see what some of direct challenges are (the first 
steps to shrink an existing partition, in order to create room for a 
Fedora installation). But have never completed an installation.

Advice, thoughts?

Suggested links?

Much thanks,

Max Pyziur
pyz at brama.com