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It would help to know what you're going to do with it. This isn't a one-size-fits-all matter.
With Boot Camp you have the option of running under Boot Camp. With any VM there's some overhead that you wouldn't have with Boot Camp.
You have both if you set up Bootcamp and migrate to Parallels. You just have to make sure that your VM is shut down before you attempt to Bootcamp.
My Mac with SSD takes about 16 seconds (it's not instant but very fast) to boot into Lion. Bootcamp takes about the same amount of time to boot...
IIRC the Delete key on your Mac is actually a Backspace key in Windows. Fn + Delete is actually Delete.
Why would you expect Outlook to open Excel files? If you try to open an Excel file in Outlook it will launch Excel.
Doesn't really help anyone but no problems here either. Didn't have problems with Snow Leopard, PD7 & Win7 64 bit. Still no problems after...
Sounds pretty typical from what I can tell if you're running 32 bit. See also: http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=245950
It really depends on your usage on both counts. Clarifying what you're doing with your VM would help if you want feedback. Better yet, monitor...