Why do some applications not work on MacBooks with the M1 chip?
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Because they’re written specifically to run on intel x86 architecture. M1 is an ARM processor so if an application relies on something specific to x86 it can’t run on an arm chip
The M1 processor uses a different instruction set than Intel processors. Ordinarily this would require applications to be recompiled by the developer, but Apple included translation software called Rosetta 2 that can translate applications on-the-fly. They did something very similar when transitioning from PowerPC to Intel.
The translation process is good and works for most apps, but isn’t perfect. There are a few older apps that rely on features of older processors that are hard to translate, like self-modifying code, copy-protection, or obscure behaviors. Sometimes developers made assumptions about the computer that are no longer true, like exactly how the caches work.
Some issues aren’t related to the processor itself but the system software upgrade required to use an M1 Mac. Apple keeps adding security and privacy features that can break older apps.
From a personal point-of-view, almost everything seems to run fine. You can’t even tell when an app is being run in translation mode.
Because the M1 chip is not based on X86(the instruction set basically every modern CPU meant for dekstops/laptops is based on), instead M1 is using ARM wich sitll doesnt have widescale adoption for some less used apps ot ensure support
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