>>>If you are OK with the bleeding edge, apparently VirtualBox developer preview will run on Apple silicon: https://www.makeuseof.com/how-to-install-virtualbox-apple-silicon-mac/ . That would probably give a more "conventional" VM experience than Parallels.
>>>That article does not say if guest OSs need to be ARM-based like Parallels and VMWare Fusion.
>
>Right. Too much uncertainty, and I've done my share of bleeding edge for now.
>
>Having declared some years back that I was buying my last Wintel machine, it looks as if I'm about to get my third. ;-) Mind you, there's some quite nice stuff out there these days, including an Asus machine with a 17" OLED screen that folds and a detached keyboard, so it packs down far more portably than a traditional 17" laptop.

I just had a big unexpected windfall....and am thinking about buying a Mac....never though I'd say that.