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I think you will like the machine, especially how quiet it is.

Be advised that -- unless disabled -- the T2-based Secure Boot facility will prevent booting from an external device or from the network. E.g, you can't boot from a Carbon Copy backup. This also means you can't do network-based erase/reinstall. The solution is boot into recovery mode with CMD+R and under Utilities > Startup Security Utility, disable the secure boot facility. Without taking this step the only way to re-install macOS is from a Time Machine backup.

The makers of CCC DO Not recommend disabling the Secure Boot utility. Only change the External Boot configuration option that is below it to allow for booting from an external drive.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT20819

https://bombich.com/kb/ccc5/help-my-clone-wont-boot. Fifth paragraph down.
 
The makers of CCC DO Not recommend disabling the Secure Boot utility. Only change the External Boot configuration option that is below it to allow for booting from an external drive...

I wasn't telling him what CCC recommends, only that if he doesn't make those changes he can get stuck with an $8,000 door stop. This almost happened to me -- when working with Apple macOS escalation support.

When trying to resolve a problem, Apple will often recommend you erase the entire machine then re-install macOS. On a T2 machine with default security, that may result in a non-bootable machine. After erasing the machine it then disallows network-based macOS install from Apple's own servers. You also can't boot from a clone -- whether CCC, Super Duper, or anything else. The only solution is return the machine to Apple. If I didn't happen to have a Time Machine backup (which the T2 security system trusted), my iMac Pro would have been returned to Apple to "un-brick" it.

If he doesn't lessen the T2 security to allow a network macOS re-install, then he erases his machine and the CCC restore fails, his machine is essentially bricked.

This may have been revised since the iMac Pro was released, but that was definitely the situation earlier. It was exacerbated by macOS escalation support initiating the problem by recommending erasing the machine, then not being familiar with the consequences.

As it was I got a new iMac Pro since the Genius Bar damaged my first one beyond repair.
 
My stock iMac Pro that I picked up before Christmas came with High Sierra, I wiped it and re-installed (internet recovery) a few times without problems, I didn't change any security/T2 options - was I just lucky or is this really not a problem?
 
My stock iMac Pro that I picked up before Christmas came with High Sierra, I wiped it and re-installed (internet recovery) a few times without problems, I didn't change any security/T2 options - was I just lucky or is this really not a problem?

I encountered the issues described in the below article. Also numerous users encountered this in this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...seems-to-prevents-boot-after-install.2130561/

By default external boot was disabled, and network re-installation of macOS was also disabled after erasing:

https://scriptingosx.com/2017/12/imac-pro-implications-for-mac-admins/

According to this post, that was definitely the behavior, but it may have been fixed in 10.13.4: https://atsblog.allcovered.com/2018/03/05/secure-boot-restricts-what-the-imac-pro-can-boot-from/

If this has now changed, that's good. However the consequences are so severe if it doesn't work, I recommend everyone getting a T2 machine test this before they put anything important on the machine. Verify you can do external boot, also that you can erase the machine from recovery mode and do net-based macOS reinstall. You should make a Time Machine backup first in case it doesn't work.
 
It sounds like you agree with him then. He, like me thinks the T2 is another way for Apple to use it's heavy hand to wall us in, in the name of security. I personally think all this talk about 'security' is fear-mongering in order for Apple to lock down their systems even more.

And you're welcome to think that - I won't say your opinion is invalid. However, I tend to think the talk of Apple's sinister motivations is overblown as well. But the reality is that for my uses and preferences, the T2 provides a very real and very welcome security enhancement that I value tremendously.
 
I have plans to buy a new iMac this year too. I'm still running a mid-2010 21.5 inch Mac, the basic model at the time. It still works surprisingly well for basic tasks but is now really beginning to show it's age when asked to do anything else, with crashes becoming more frequent. Honestly, given the spec jump I'd have no problem buying the current iMacs if mine broke tomorrow, but hopefully it holds out for a little while longer!
 
And you're welcome to think that - I won't say your opinion is invalid. However, I tend to think the talk of Apple's sinister motivations is overblown as well. But the reality is that for my uses and preferences, the T2 provides a very real and very welcome security enhancement that I value tremendously.

I misread what you said.
If I may ask, what security compromises have you had with your macs? In my 30 years of owning macs I’ve never had someone steal my hard drive and mine it for my information.
 
I misread what you said.
If I may ask, what security compromises have you had with your macs? In my 30 years of owning macs I’ve never had someone steal my hard drive and mine it for my information.
https://arstechnica.com/information...-thunderbolt-exploit-implants-to-target-macs/

This is what the T2 chip was specifically designed to protect against. Many Mac users are journalists who are wary of nation states that may confiscate their materials in order to gain intelligence on their sources. Disk encryption is not enough to protect against these kinds of attacks, and it bypassed even firmware passwords.
 
https://arstechnica.com/information...-thunderbolt-exploit-implants-to-target-macs/

This is what the T2 chip was specifically designed to protect against. Many Mac users are journalists who are wary of nation states that may confiscate their materials in order to gain intelligence on their sources. Disk encryption is not enough to protect against these kinds of attacks, and it bypassed even firmware passwords.

First off, I asked what you personally may have experienced. Referencing some scare tactic story about what may allegedly be possible wasnt my question.

On a side note, If the CIA was at all interested in mining my computer for information, I think I might have a lot more to worry about than what they may find on my hard drive. Once the CIA is spending their limited time and resources investigating little old me, I’d probably be in a pickle regardless.
 
First off, I asked what you personally may have experienced. Referencing some scare tactic story about what may allegedly be possible wasnt my question.

On a side note, If the CIA was at all interested in mining my computer for information, I think I might have a lot more to worry about than what they may find on my hard drive. Once the CIA is spending their limited time and resources investigating little old me, I’d probably be in a pickle regardless.
It's not allegedly possible, it's done. Granted this specific exploit has been patched against (known as Thunderstrike, CVE-2015-5914), but similar attacks have been demonstrated at security conferences. If the CIA can do it, so can a thief, or anyone really.

Your defensive reaction is puzzling. I just showed you a vulnerability in Mac hardware interfaces that prompted Apple to specifically design a hardware level protection mechanism, and you shot it down as a scare tactic? Do you not want Apple to evolve their hardware design with the evolving security landscape? At the same time that they did this, they also made the chip serve as a co-CPU that handles specific tasks, like FaceTime camera processing. This was a huge win for every Mac user that has a T2 chip.
 
It's not allegedly possible, it's done. Granted this specific exploit has been patched against (known as Thunderstrike, CVE-2015-5914), but similar attacks have been demonstrated at security conferences. If the CIA can do it, so can a thief, or anyone really.

Your defensive reaction is puzzling. I just showed you a vulnerability in Mac hardware interfaces that prompted Apple to specifically design a hardware level protection mechanism, and you shot it down as a scare tactic? Do you not want Apple to evolve their hardware design with the evolving security landscape? At the same time that they did this, they also made the chip serve as a co-CPU that handles specific tasks, like FaceTime camera processing. This was a huge win for every Mac user that has a T2 chip.

I think we just have a different way of lookig at things and its a life philosphy thing, that simple isnt going to be reaolved between people like you and me.

My take is this: You can find a story in this big world of ours that will scare you about almost anything, from the steak you eat, to the brakes in your car, to the big bad ‘nation state’ coming to get you.
So ... you can go through life finding these things and being afraid of a thing that has less than 1 in a million chance of happening to you, or ... you can just live your life.

I prefer the lattter.
 
I think we just have a different way of lookig at things and its a life philosphy thing, that simple is different between people like you and me.

My take is this: You can find a story in this big world of ours that will scare you about almost anything, from the steak you eat, to the brakes in your car, to the big bad ‘nation state’ coming to get you.
So ... you can go through life finding these things and being afraid of a thing that has less than 1 in a million chance of happening to you, or ... you can just live your life.

I prefer the lattter.
You don't have to be a victim of a burn to appreciate oven mitts. Apple makes their Macs for a wide range of people, and they took responsibility for their hardware security. That's what it's about, responsibility, not fear.
 
You don't have to be a victim of a burn to appreciate oven mitts. Apple makes their Macs for a wide range of people, and they took responsibility for their hardware security. That's what it's about, responsibility, not fear.

Well my main problem with the T2 is that it effectively makes replacing/upgrading the hard drive nigh impossible.
Every mac that I’ve had in the past decade I’ve replaced/upgraded the hard drive or SSD at least once, if not more.
To lose that very real and tangable advantage in order to prevent a 1 in a million chance security risk is not a trade-off I’m happy about.
 
You are exactly in the same case that I was several weeks ago.

I had a 21.5 iMac Late 2012 and I was hesitating between :

- buying current iMac 5K (i7/AMD 580)
- waiting for a new iMac which does not come
- buying current iMac Pro

I was looking for a silent machine, powerful and I finally bought the iMac Pro. I was tired to wait after an iMac refresh which does not happen. And too many people complain about the fan noise in the 2017 i7/580 iMac 5K. So the choice was pretty clear : like me go for the iMac Pro ! Wonderful machine. I love its silence, it’s power and the space grey finish is beautiful !
 
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Maybe the right way to handle the T2 is to have it ask at first boot "how secure do you need this computer to be?", explaining the consequences of enabling the highest level of security (that it is possible to brick the computer so that it needs to return to Apple).

That way, journalists snd others who are concerned about a nation-state supported hacker (the other term for such a person is a "Spy") getting physical control of their computer can turn the highest security on. People with an average level of concern can turn some intermediate level of security on, and people who live in North Dakota 300 miles from an Apple Store, but in a town where the last burglary occurred in 1962 can turn all the physical security off so they never have to worry about losing a password.

To many people, a far greater concern than someone stealing all or part of their computer and trying to access the data (much less if "someone" has to be the CIA/KGB/NSA/GRU) is network-based privacy invasion. Both hackers and "legitimate" data miners like Facebook and Google concern me far more than physical compromise.

For most average users (e.g. people that neither a government nor a large company has a specific interest in), a good ad-blocker, cookie-killer and tracker-blocker are far more important security tools than encryption that prevents their disk from being read outside their computer. That doesn't mean that encrypting some files or even the whole disk isn't a good idea - just that it is less important than running Cookie and using a decent password manager (the one in Safari is pretty good).

Remember that the most important hack of recent times may well have been the Cambridge Analytica scandal that might have changed a Presidential election, and that was a quasi-legitimate consulting firm mining data within the constraints of Facebook's terms of service at the time.
 
I'm waiting to upgrade from my late 2012 iMac, i'm not sure why Apple didn't update them in 2018. I wonder if there will be a big upgrade this year? it will be 7 years since the design of the thinner 2012 iMac, altho the 5K display update was a great one, i wonder what they are going to do with the iMac this year.

Thinking about it Apple have confirmed that the new Mac Pro will be coming this year (they confirmed that it's a 2019 thing) so maybe this year will be the year of the desk top updates? new Mac Pro alongside a new iMac, now that would be great :)
 
I was kind of looking at a similar scenario and I went with the base model iMac Pro. It was already discounted in the refurb store and I got another good bit knocked off for being a veteran. I don't regret my decision at all, I love this computer and I personally think hardware wise it will top anything Apple can do with the standard iMac in 2019. If they upgrade the iMac pro also, I got a good enough deal to make it worth it to take the jump. I can highly recommend the Pro if you can find a good deal on an Apple refurb or a discounted new one. Thanks.
 
If the engineering team on the new Mac Pro were to design a new airliner, It would probably look like this...
curtis condor.jpg
 
Do we know for a fact that the next iMac will have a T2 chip? Most of the rumors I've read suggest we might not see that until 2020 or later?

I don't need it *now*. My 2013 is still working. I don't want a Mac Mini or Mac Pro because I prefer the all-in-one design of an iMac.

I could definitely wait until April. June is feasible but not ideal. September feels a long way off, and if I wait that long and there is no update, I'll probably be reluctant to buy something in October, given that it would then be highly likely that an update would come shortly after that.

The iMac and Mac Pro are now the only Apple computers lacking the T2 chip, because they have not been updated or redesigned. I think you can be certain the T2 will be in the next iMac and Mac Pro.
Some are saying they will redesign the iMac this year so it may be worth waiting a bit?
 
All the talk of updating iMacs etc - Im curious as to whether we should expect an updated iMac Pro this year, maybe?
 
All the talk of updating iMacs etc - Im curious as to whether we should expect an updated iMac Pro this year, maybe?
You need to wait couple of more years for that. And if they will release promised MP this year, most likely iMac Pro will be completely abandoned.
 
All the talk of updating iMacs etc - Im curious as to whether we should expect an updated iMac Pro this year, maybe?

The answer, imo, is maybe ... but if NOT this year, then NEVER.

If they don't update the iMac Pro this year, I think that will mean they intend for the Mac Pro to the be the definitive 'pro' machine and the iMac Pro was a one-off.

Many forget that when pro users were clamoring about the lack of a Mac Pro update back in 2017, Tim Cook hailed the iMac as the next 'pro' machine.

They then released the iMac Pro, and the response from the pro community was tepid.

It was only then that Apple changed course and announced that they would update the Mac Pro. From my perspective, Apple had intended the iMac Pro to the be the definitive, and ONLY 'pro' machine, but because of the response, they suddenly changed course.

So now the question is whether Apple will have two 'pro' machines, when it was clear (to me at least) their roadmap back in 2017 only called for one 'pro' machine - the iMac Pro.

So if I were to guess, I think at this point they'll go with only one 'pro' machine going forward, and that will be the Mac Pro, and the iMac Pro will be a one-off collectors item.
 
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The answer, imo, is maybe ... but if NOT this year, then NEVER.

If they don't update the iMac Pro this year, I think that will mean they intend for the Mac Pro to the be the definitive 'pro' machine and the iMac Pro was a one-off.

Many forget that when pro users were clamoring about the lack of a Mac Pro update back in 2017, Tim Cook hailed the iMac as the next 'pro' machine.

They then released the iMac Pro, and the response from the pro community was tepid.

It was only then that Apple changed course and announced that they would update the Mac Pro. From my perspective, Apple had intended the iMac Pro to the be the definitive, and ONLY 'pro' machine, but because of the response, they suddenly changed course.

So now the question is whether Apple will have two 'pro' machines, when it was clear (to me at least) their roadmap back in 2017 only called for one 'pro' machine - the iMac Pro.

So if I were to guess, I think at this point they'll go with only one 'pro' machine going forward, and that will be the Mac Pro, and the iMac Pro will be a one-off collectors item.

Apple should release an iMac+ with the more powerful features of iMac Pro (better fan system, speakers, high performance GPU etc.), but skip the server grade hardware (EEC ram, Xeon CPU). This way you'll get nearly identical performance, but for a much lower price. Instead Apple can put all the super-duper expensive stuff in their fully fledged Mac Pro machine.

Unfortunately considering Apple these days, this would simply make too much sense, so I doubt it will happen.
 
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Apple should release an iMac+ with the more powerful features of iMac Pro (better fan system, speakers, high performance GPU etc.), but skip the server grade hardware (EEC ram, Xeon CPU). This way you'll get nearly identical performance, but for a much lower price. Instead Apple can put all the super-duper expensive stuff in their fully fledged Mac Pro machine.

Unfortunately considering Apple these days, this would simply make too much sense, so I doubt it will happen.

Well, they went all out on the imac pro because they felt it would be the ‘final answer’ for professional users.
When that didnt pan out, they backtracked and anmounced a new mac pro.
As a result, I think an updated imac pro, or imac+ is never gonna happen now.
I think Apple believes theres room for only one ‘Pro’ mac. And the Mac Pro will be it going forward.
 
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