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Apple's Newest Macs Seem To Have a Serious Audio Bug (thurrott.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Apple's new Mac products might have a serious audio glitch for professional users. The company's newest Mac products with its T2 security chip suffer from a software-related bug that leads to issues with audio performance. The issue seemingly affects devices with the T2 chip -- that includes the iMac Pro, Mac Mini 2018, MacBook Air 2018, and MacBook Pro 2018. Although Apple's T2 chip is designed to offer improved security, it's affecting users in the pro audio industry.
As CDM reports, there is a bug in macOS that leads to dropouts and glitches in audio whenever a Mac automatically updates its system clock through the system time daemon. Users have been reporting the issue across a bunch of different pro audio forums for months, and it seems like the issue has never been acknowledged by Cupertino. The issue here is pretty simple to understand, as explained by a DJ software developer on Reddit: whenever the system time daemon automatically updates the system time, it somehow sends a 'pause-audio-engine' message to the kernel, leading to dropouts and glitches in audio.
As CDM reports, there is a bug in macOS that leads to dropouts and glitches in audio whenever a Mac automatically updates its system clock through the system time daemon. Users have been reporting the issue across a bunch of different pro audio forums for months, and it seems like the issue has never been acknowledged by Cupertino. The issue here is pretty simple to understand, as explained by a DJ software developer on Reddit: whenever the system time daemon automatically updates the system time, it somehow sends a 'pause-audio-engine' message to the kernel, leading to dropouts and glitches in audio.
Because the T2 chip blocks access to the internal SSD when the security level is set to off, making it impractical to install Linux or another OS when Apple starts supporting that laptop, that is a deal killer for me
Disclaimer: I could be wrong, but I've not found anything that states one can both turn security off, and install Linux on the internal SSD on a T2 equipped Mac. You can turn security off and use external flash drive media, but the internal drive is inaccessible. It would be nice if Apple allowed the SSD to work, and provided support for Microsoft compliant shims, so one could have Secure UEFI boot to RedHat, Ubuntu, or other operating systems and have some faith that the kernel hasn't been tampered with.
Between this, and the other Mac issues (keyboard, audio), looks like my next MacBook Pro may be a Dell Latitude model, which in some ways is a better MBP than a MBP, if only because it supports USB-C, and USB-A without needing a dock or dongles.
Remember Dell's "It just works." and "Dell vs the rest of the PC industry" ad campaigns?
Oh, wait. That was Apple.
It's the same reason you don't generally see car companies doing ad campaigns around their competitor's recall mishaps. They all know "there but for the grace go I." Apple had to learn that lesson the hard way. A decade later and they're still living down that hubris.
All systems have bugs. The difference with Apple is that generally, the bugs get fixed and the hardware gets supported. As much as you hate their prices and controlled environment, can you say the same of other hardware manufacturers?
Because the T2 chip blocks access to the internal SSD when the security level is set to off,
I thought you could disable secure boot on the Mac, which should let you install any OS you like on the internal SSD...
I fully admit I've not tried that though so it could be there's some other aspect to that I did not know about. But this article sure makes it look like that setting has the effect of letting you boot into Linux on a T2 Mac.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Easy fix: remove the headphone jack. Users will stop complaining about audio quality; problem solved!
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Because Dell doesn't talk shit like "you're holding it wrong"
No instead they have Michael Dell saying shit about Apple like "I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders" which turned out to be remarkably arrogant and increasingly foolish since he said it.
and because Dell hasn't tried to build a reputation as making computers which are easier to use than everyone else's.
Because they couldn't. Dell doesn't make the software that runs their PCs so they don't control enough of the process to even try. Apple more or less succeeded in doing that exact thing. Several times in fact with various iterations of MacOS and iOS. There is a reason Windows mimicked the Mac and Android followed the iPhone. Like them or hate them you cannot deny that Apple does do a good job making comparatively well designed and easy to use interfaces to their products. There is a reason every other PC and smartphone maker follows Apple's lead at least some of the time.
Also, because Dell seems to have less gigantic fuckups than Apple, per unit shipped.
Not historically they haven't. Dell's hardware is fine in general but they've had plenty of problems over the years. Measurably more than Apple most years if you believe the PC reliability rankings over the years. I'm not bashing Dell here (in fact I'm typing this on one of their PCs which I purchased with my own money) but let's not pretend they are something special among big computer makers.
I have to agree. I've been using dell for personal and professional equipment for more than a decade. I've never had any problems with dell support. On the professional side, shit just works, and when it doesn't they send someone out to make it work. Personal, I've had to send back a laptop for service. It was "yes sir, we'll get this fixed for you" and that was it. It was fixed and back in my hands in a week.
I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.