Compatibility betweenMac M1 and Mac Intel (external drive)

An M1/M2 Mac cannot run an Intel version of Windows in any Virtual Machine, except the UTM product and it will be woefully slow. Only Parallels has permission from Microsoft to run an ARM version of Windows 11 in the Parallels VM on an Apple Silicon Mac.

What others have said about the restriction of an operating system to that which shipped with the Mac.

geraldo4706 wrote:

.... can I boot Big Sur using that external SSD Intel macOS drive? If yes, can I run the Windows 10 VMware Fusion on the new Macbook?....

You cannot not boot an Intel Drive on an M1 or M2 regardless of the operating system. The processors are totally different.

Also, you must have the M1/M2 version of VMWare Fusion which is the latest version. However, Intel virtual machines will not run on the M1/M2 version of VMware Fusion. You would need to purchase and install Windows 11 as a virtual machine and figure out how to import your stuff from the Intel version of Windows to Windows 11 noting that if you are using external devices specifically for Windows, there may not be drivers available for the ARM64 version of Windows 11.

VikingOSX wrote:

...Only Parallels has permission from Microsoft to run an ARM version of Windows 11...

No longer true as VMWare has sorted out the issue with Microsoft and now has support for the "Trusted Platform" for Windows 11 (see VMware Fusion site).

Probably not (but you can find out for yourself).

If your new MacBook comes with Monterey or Ventura installed (likely), then no, it will be unable to run the Big Sur OS. A Mac cannot run a version of macOS that predates the version it ships with.

You’re welcome.