@continuum: My goal is to run a Win7 64bit VM as fast as possible on a laptop (running Win7 64bit also) that only has 8GB of physical RAM yet the VM itself would like to have 4-8GB.
Swapping is virtual memory which is make believe memory. But a quality/fast SSD(s) implemented on the laptop will read/write (and therefore swap) much faster than traditional SATA 7200RPM drives.
In an ideal world where money is no object, all of my users would own laptops with 2 SSDs (and 16GB or 32GB memory)...and store/run the VM on the D drive while Windows traditionally likes to write/use/page to the C drive. If the overall system i/o is split across 2 drives rather than 1, the overall system and its apps (VMWare Workstation) will run faster.