My understanding of what
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
does is based on: Why should I use \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}?
In other words, I use it for better rendering of fonts for letters containing e.g. an Umlaut.
But it seems that the font encoding changes other things as well. Here's a MWE:
\documentclass[11pt, a4paper, final]{report}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
\chapter{Lorem Ipsum Dolor}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut Labore (2011) et dolore magna Aliqua (2015). Ut enim ad minim veniam: $ x \odot y $, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat: $ x \otimes y $. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.
\end{document}
With \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}, the chapter title, and the section name itself, i.e. "Chapter 1", are rendered thinner and letters are spaced closely. Without loading it, section title letters are thicker, and spaced more apart.
There also seems to be a difference in overall spacing between letters in non-title text.
Any suggestions what the reason for this behavior is, and if there's maybe a problem behind it I didn't notice?
\usepackage{lmodern}
after\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
is a good remedy; with it, different fonts are used, which reproduce with much greater accuracy the metrics of the original Computer Modern font. You will notice a different behavior in math formulas typeset at non-standard size, though.