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MacBook Pro 2018 doesn't switch to external monitor until *after* logging in

E

edjusted

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 10, 2010
112
39
Is this normal behavior? With older MBP's, when it's shutdown and closed, I could plug in my dock with power and USB accessories & external monitor, and it would power on automatically and I'd get the login screen on the external monitor.

Older MBP:
1. leaving the lid closed and the laptop off, plug in the power and USB hub
2. there is no step 2! I can log in and do everything else from my external monitor and keyboard.

With the 2018 MBP, I have to go through these steps:
1. plug in my USB-C dock (which includes an HDMI connection to my external monitor)
2. open the MBP lid to get it to power on
3. log in *on* the MBP (up until this point, the external monitor would not show anything)
4. *after* I log in *on* the MBP, I can close the lid and the external monitor will kick in

Is step 3 normal? It's not that big of a deal, but I wish I could just plug in my USB-C dock, then do everything, including logging in, on my external monitor and external keyboard.
 
From what I understand the new MBP starts its boot process from the T2 chip then does a handoff that’s why you have that behavior.
 
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Thanks all. Nice to know that there's nothing wrong with my Mac. Sigh. I feel like little things keep getting worse and worse with the new MBPs even as the performance gets way better.
 
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I agree. A lot of the small stuff that is nice to have, keeps getting shoved over for performance and size.
 
edjusted said:
Is this normal behavior? With older MBP's, when it's shutdown and closed, I could plug in my dock with power and USB accessories & external monitor, and it would power on automatically and I'd get the login screen on the external monitor.

Older MBP:
1. leaving the lid closed and the laptop off, plug in the power and USB hub
2. there is no step 2! I can log in and do everything else from my external monitor and keyboard.

With the 2018 MBP, I have to go through these steps:
1. plug in my USB-C dock (which includes an HDMI connection to my external monitor)
2. open the MBP lid to get it to power on
3. log in *on* the MBP (up until this point, the external monitor would not show anything)
4. *after* I log in *on* the MBP, I can close the lid and the external monitor will kick in

Is step 3 normal? It's not that big of a deal, but I wish I could just plug in my USB-C dock, then do everything, including logging in, on my external monitor and external keyboard.
Click to expand...
Lol yeah I find that to be quite normal would you want some random person just having the ability to plug in your computer and have access to all of your files?
 
Airboy1466 said:
Lol yeah I find that to be quite normal would you want some random person just having the ability to plug in your computer and have access to all of your files?
Click to expand...
You still need to log in, he is complaining about losing the ability to see the log-in page on external monitors after plug-in.
 
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vemac575 said:
I agree. A lot of the small stuff that is nice to have, keeps getting shoved over for performance and size.
Click to expand...
This got shoved over for security only iirc.

also i really dont mind small stuff being shoved over for *performance*, i just dont think that's the case. They did no sacrifices for performance..
 
Ploki said:
This got shoved over for security only iirc.
Click to expand...
I don't think to open the lid to type-in password increase security. It only increased the inconvenience of using it as a desktop replacement at home.
 
CrysisDeu said:
I do not own 2018, I am replying to OP. If the problem described by OP is real, I might not consider another mbp in the future
Click to expand...

It has to do with T2 chip and hardware encryption via T2 chip. So until you enter your password, the computer is locked via T2, meaning ports are disabled (or something like that, its been a while).
If you don't use disk encryption it's fine.
If you need it and do, then you should welcome this.

I don't use FileVault. I dont know why so many people do frankly... probably because its enabled by default.
 
Ploki said:
It has to do with T2 chip and hardware encryption via T2 chip. So until you enter your password, the computer is locked via T2, meaning ports are disabled (or something like that, its been a while).
If you don't use disk encryption it's fine.
If you need it and do, then you should welcome this.

I don't use FileVault. I dont know why so many people do frankly... probably because its enabled by default.
Click to expand...

TY for the info, FileVault is the worst feature by far in macOS, and I do not and will not use it.
 
My 2018 MBP boots up with the apple logo on the MBP screen itself, then once it hits the login screen that shows up on the external monitor. Mine is hooked up to a real TB3 Caldigit TS3 dock though not just a usb-c hub.
 
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