There’s a really good article over on TidBITS – What Does the T2 Chip Mean for Mac Usage.

If you’ve wondered what the T1 and T2 security processors do in the new Macs, this article gives you a good overview without being too heavy on technical details.

Essentially the T2 chip provides a secure and trusted environment for a Mac to boot the operating system. This allows it to be reasonably sure that the system it is booting has not been modified (i.e. any malware or viruses added) and that the software running on the Mac can be verified.

It also encrypts ALL data written to/from the internal SSD, even if you haven’t configured a FileVault password. This means that if someone were to take the SSD out of a T2 Mac, they could not put the drive in a reader and recover any data off it.

The T2 chip drives the Touch ID sensor on current laptops. I’m on the fence about the Touch Bar – it’s sometimes nice to have, but I could easily live without it. The Touch ID sensor however is fantastic and I use it all the time.

Lastly, it provides some very nice security features – things like physically disconnecting power to the microphone in laptops whenever the lid is closed.

Read more on TidBITS: https://tidbits.com/2019/04/05/what-does-the-t2-chip-mean-for-mac-usage/