The new proprietary software diagnostic tools that Apple is planning to release to help repair MacBook Pros and iMac Pros will mean that you will end up with an “inoperative system and an incomplete repair” if they are not used in the repair process of the machine.
This suggests that without these specific software tools, third-party repair services will not be able to fix several issues with these Apple products including the display assembly, logic board, the keyboard, trackpad and the Touch ID board according to Motherboard.
Make sure you take a look at our latest MacBook Pro review
Specifically for iMac Pros, this lockdown will come into force if you replace the logic board of flash storage and will render the machine unusable until the Apple Service Toolkit 2 is used by a member of Apple’s Authorized Service Provider program.
Depending on how pessimistic you’re feeling, you can take this news in one of two ways. Hardware and software security is very much in the news these days and Apple could be genuinely taking steps to make their products that much harder to tamper with, as they move even closer towards a sealed appliance experience.
On the other side of the coin, there is no doubt that Apple is making their machines harder to repair for the everyman. If something goes wrong with your Mac you’re being left with fewer and fewer options before you’ll have to send it off to Apple’s ‘reasonably priced’ own repair service.