A) Running a guest OS on a system that has hardware enabled x86 emulation is a must to maximize performance. Verify if your processor supports AMD-V (if AMD) or Intel VT-x (if Intel).
B) Increasing the size of virtual hard disks containing Windows after the fact is not the most enjoyable task in the world in VirtualBox, so I would suggest a larger "Expanding Drive" option. Let's say, maybe 100 Gigabytes. Visual Studio doesn't like installing on a secondary drive, at least it didn't when I tried to do it in an XP guest in VirtualBox, hence leaving the extra space for yourself.
Larger fixed disks can be a pain to migrate, because VirtualBox stores it as one large file, which some filesystems (and flash drives/external hard drives) have issues with.
C) Windows 7 should work well for you. Make sure to install Guest Additions when you have finished your install for the best experience.