This helped me!
Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 10.0.22621 Build 22621
VMware Workstation 17.0.2 build-21581411

thanks to @Jasot and @Technogeezer -> the other threads on poor intel performance also contain some tweaks for the .vmx files that could potentially help others. linking in case any one else wants to dig in:

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/VMware-Workstation-16-very-slow-on-Windows-...
https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/Poor-support-for-Intel-12th-gen-processors/...