“Apple’s T2 chip in the Mac mini, MacBook Pro, [MacBook Air], and iMac Pro can greatly speed video encoding, but by how much?” Mike Wuerthele and Malcolm Owen report for AppleInsider. “Now that Apple has two machines with the same CPU, one with the T2, and one without, there’s a good way to tell.”
“With the release of the 2019 iMac 4K that uses the same processor as the low-end 2018 Mac mini, there’s finally an opportunity to test the processors both with and without the T2, using the exact same software encoder settings,” Wuerthele and Owen report. “For this test, we’re going to use Handbrake, an AppleInsider 4K video master, Apple and Intel encoding software, and a pile of hardware.”
Wuerthele and Owen report, “These video encode numbers may be the most compelling reason for video-centric folk to upgrade to a T2 machine that we’ve seen yet.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s T2 obviously offers more than just security.
Currently, these Macs have the Apple T2 Security Chip:
• iMac Pro
• Mac mini models introduced in 2018
• MacBook Air models introduced in 2018
• MacBook Pro models introduced in 2018You can also use System Information to learn whether your Mac has this chip:
1. Press and hold the Option key while choosing Apple () menu > System Information.
2. In the sidebar, select either Controller or iBridge, depending on the version of macOS in use.
3. If you see “Apple T2 chip” on the right, your Mac has the Apple T2 Security Chip.
this makes me wonder why isn’t there a T2 in the new 2019 iMac?
The 2019 iMac has spinning hard disk as an option. The T2 chip controls access to the disk, and has never been engineered into a product without SSD-only. There’s a good chance it is the need to have a cheaper storage option in the iMac that keeps it from getting the T2 chip.
that’s the simplest, most direct explanation I’ve heard yet.
I see the T2 and application “notarization” as safety/selling points for Apple. Both are differentiation points for Apple. I don’t understand why Apple doesn’t play this up across the Mac line. It seems like throw a SSD and a T2 into the iMac and update the Mac Pro with a T2 and play up the security of Mac computers would be a good thing to do.
It’s the same as the “Touch Bar” now only in the MacBook Pro- if that is so good, come out with a keyboard for the desktop Macs with that on it. (For the desktop, I’d make a keyboard with BOTH function key buttons and the Touch Bar.)
Apple is getting away from the simple. All their Macs should be alike.
All this is perplexing, it seems like simple decisions are taking too long. For me, with my 2012 iMac, I’m ready to buy a new one but no T2, no USB 3.1, and expensive SSD options has caused me to hesitate. With today’s rumor of a 31″ iMac, I’m flat out confused. I shouldn’t be considering the power of an i9 iMac. Apple is making it hard to decide to buy a new iMac.
Having paid the extra to replace the spinny when it broke with an SSD in my iMac I can honestly say I will never go back to the former, it was like a brand new machine.
For those who are interested, the presets they used in Handbrake became available with a recent update. If you can’t see the presets in your setup, try updating Handbrake.