The usual rule is Winders first. Update.
Be careful to make sure your new notebook is fully supported under XP before trashing 7. One never knows these days whether drivers exist for newer hardware.
If I have both XP and Linux, I usually have them on separate partitions rather than in a VM. But see below.
Use a bootable rescue CD (or USB stick) to boot the system (I like - http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page ). Run chkdsk or the like. Repartition it as needed to make a drive for Winders XP. Install XP. [Update: I actually preferred CloneZilla-SysRescCD when I was doing these things a couple of years ago. I groked it better - http://clonezilla-sy...lug.gr/intro.html ]
Then install Ubuntu and do any additional partitioning, etc., with the tools there. I would do the full Ubuntu install from the media you have and upgrade later. If you need to do it again, you won't have to download it again (and I'm not sure how/if one can do an Ubuntu internet install).
An advantage of that way Grub will find XP and you won't have any issues with having to add it manually.
VirtualBox has worked fine for me running Ubuntu on XP. But I haven't been brave enough to rely on it yet. An advantage of having Ubuntu as the client is that you may have better/more drivers under Winders.
HTH a little.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
