I think the VMs will be slower if it is installed. I installed the Workstation 17 demo without the option to install the Windows Hypervisor Platform selected. Not sure if it matters but MSinfo shows Kernel DMA Protection On even when you disable it in the BIOS, you have to disable all these options to get rid of the installer message. I'm guessing Workstation will not run without Intel Virtualization Technology and Intel VT-d enabled. MSInfo shows Kernel DMA Protection On and Virtualization-based security Running unless I disable all three of these from the BIOS. The popup has a link here but hyper-v was never enabled. I've gone through a few different sites trying to make sure they are disabled. So I thought I'd try the 17 Pro and Player and they both have the message about hyper-v or device/credential guard being enabled.

If more than one is added you get the message ' unrecoverable error (vcpu-1)'

They got new laptops with Windows 11 and now I can only run Workstation 15.5.7 with one CPU core. The office has been on Workstation 15.5.7 for some time and it's worked well on my old desktop and laptop with WIndows 11.

Workstation 15.5 pro