Am I missing something, or is the

Rancher.Desktop-1.8.1.aarch64.dmg

an intel x86_64 binary and not an aarch64/apple silicon binary? From the 1.8.1 release page both the Rancher.Desktop-1.8.1-mac.aarch64.zip download and Rancher.Desktop-1.8.1.aarch64.dmg download result in an application running as ‘intel’ x86_64 and not aarch64.

❯ file /Applications/Rancher\ <http://Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/Rancher\|Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/Rancher\> Desktop
/Applications/Rancher <http://Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/Rancher|Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/Rancher> Desktop: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64

No this is correct (see also https://github.com/rancher-sandbox/rancher-desktop/issues/1416#issuecomment-1028207957). All performance-relevant pieces are native arm64 code though

I downloaded the Apple Silicon version today, and the resulting app also appears to be an Intel app:

ok, thanks Jan!