Jim Roseberry
abacab
True, but that wasn't the OP's question, was it?
No it wasn't...
Setting up a VM is overkill (not necessary) just to run Word/Excel/etc.
Yes, you are entitled to have an opinion Jim.
But the OP was not soliciting opinions on the pros/cons of using a VM. His question was whether a VM would have any impact on his DAW performance.
He has been dual booting, which some might consider overkill these days. CPU supported hardware virtualization is now the norm in Intel Core processors, with Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x). VM guest OS performance is nearly as good as with the host OS, with the exception of real-time capability.
Some people choose not to use their DAW for anything but studio use. That's a personal decision. Some use a 2nd computer, or dual boot, for everyday computing.
A VM is just another solution set, not better or worse than the other methods. But it does work very well on modern PC hardware, and is really very simple to use, once you get over the curve with the first one.