Seeking Advice on Virtualizing Windows on MacBook Air M3 for Screen Reader Use.

Hello,
First off, I haven't done this in a bit, but instead of VMware, or any other paid solution, I would recommend UTM, as it is free. I did this back in like 2021, and it was still a bit buggy, but hoping those have been worked out since. If you can afford more than just the bare minimum, I would definitely upgrade the ram to 16 gb or more.
Lastly, I find JAWS to be slow and sluggish no matter what system it's on. NVDA all the way for me.
I will have an m1 macbook air in another week or so, and should be able to tell you how it handles on that. My model only has the 8 gb ram. So, if you get an m3, and more ram, it will certainly go even better for you, but I will be able to give feedback when I have the mac and have everything up and running.

Here is a link for UTM:
https://mac.getutm.app/

Subject says it all, as of recent, 1 or 2 months, vmware fusion became completely free for personal use. Just wanted to get the record straight on that.
Regarding running windows... I have a m3 and it’s working without a problem, though I don't run jaws myself. If you’re going to run a vm though, get at least 16gigs of ram at the very least. You can run it fine with 8, but something like jaws, the more you have the better. But yeah you should be fine with an m3.

I haven't virtualised windows for a minute. Still running my 2015 macbook pro and my bootcamp. I'm a firm believer that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm using this thing until it completely dies! If I ever get a new mac, I'll be maxing it out for sure! Is UTM using the core audio drivers instead of own VM drivers?

That is incredibly awesome!!!! This is news to me. I had not heard this. I haven't used that program in years, so will most certainly give that a shot when I get my mac.
So, my m1 Air that I was able to get for a really good deal only has the 8 gb ram. As I said in a different thread, I don't plan on doing anything else on the mac os side of things while Windows is loaded up, so considering that, how much ram can I safely give the VM?

Hello, recently; Vmware has become free for personal use. So I strongly recommend using the pro version.
I tried using windows 11 on arm with the macBook air m1, 2020 version; having 8Gb ram. I was damn surprised how stable it worked even with only the given 6-GB ram; MacBooks always surprise me, even though me being a Windows user.
Also; Jaws has always been a laggy screen reader, NVDA runs much faster on any configuration you might have. My intention is not starting a fight would last a life time already but that is the reality.

So, what's the difference in the two versions? Appreciate your feedback on this.

There is no difference between free versus pro, as the free version for personal use is vmware fusion pro, so no difference at all between both versions.
Regarding running jaws and how much ram to give... I generarly follow the, half and half, rule, if my mac has 8 gigs of ram, give the vm 4, and 4 for the main os, and so on, but you could give it a bit more if you wanted, i.e, 5, 6. I myself use NVDA as jaws is... quite a resource hog, and i'm really unsure how would jaws run in a vm with 4, 6 gigs of ran, tbh, i'd recommend NVDA, tbh.
Regarding insert, I have my insert mapped to the accent key, which the key right below escape, although I believe you can also use caps lock as insert if you want with something like karabiner elements. I'm quite sure you can automate it so that each time you switch to vmware caps lock will become insert automatically but, still figuring how to set that up.
I can try doing tests, and from the instance of jaws 2020 , used to run in my old vertual machine on my intel mac, jaws ran smoothly, but its worth noting my old intel mac had 32gigabites of ram and I thus gave the vm 16, so do take that in mind as my tests could be inn-accurate compared to a mac with 8gigabites of ram, however I have afew friends who have that combination, 8gigabites of ram macbook air, m2 or 3, and they run a vm so... i'll ask and let you know their recomendations as to this.
Edit: ok I asked and you should be fine if you run jaws, it shouldn't be a problem, although you shouldn't go above 6gigabites of ram for the vm, I'd suggest 4, 5 if your using a 8gigabites ram mac, but yeah, jaws should run fine if you wanted to run it.

Even with intel, its not the screen reader is still responsive enough, but again that depends on how much ram your old machine had... If it had 8, you should notice a... I really don't know how much, but the speed of intel compared to apple silicun is quite noticeable once you do the switch.

Hey, just wanted to say thanks for the info. I will probably use karabiner for mapping caps lock. Last I had tried, and granted this was back in 2021, and on UTM, not vmware, for the life of me, I could not get caps lock working.
I am really looking forward to giving Fusion a shot.
And yeah I totally agree with you on NVDA. I haven't used JAWS in a long long time, and there is nothing that could convince me to go back to it.