syncing 2 Macbooks - ??

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Hey, I recently bought a MBA, running Lion, however, I still use my old (2009) MBP which runs Snow Leopard.

Main question: how can I sync the 2 laptops (say if I change something in my address book / iCal / iPhoto, etc...so that when I make the change on my MBA, the change is synced with the MBP)?

Secondary question: I can't seem to find the iSync app in my applications on my MBA running Lion, however the little circle (iSync icon) is present on my menu bar at the top of the screen. Is the app even there?

Thanks!
 

vansmith

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You can sync a variety of things across each machine using various services. You can use DropBox for files and Google (and others) for calendar and contacts. In fact, Address Book and iCal have a wizard for setting up online accounts in the preferences. iPhoto is a little trickier and I've never tried that so I'll let someone else comment on that.
 
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Thanks for the tips vansmith. I've got dropbox covered, but it's a little tricker with iCal and Address Book, since I would like to avoid using iCloud.

How, for instance, would I sync iTunes between the 2 laptops if I add songs, apps, etc...?
 

vansmith

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iTunes can be done with Home Sharing. You can enable it in the left hand sidebar.

When you say you want to avoid iCloud, do you want to avoid all "cloud" services or just iCloud? Avoiding iCloud isn't a problem since it doesn't work with Snow Leopard anyway. ;)
 
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True, but in my case, I'd like to avoid all kind of "cloud" sharing and syncing.
 

vansmith

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It's going to be very hard, if not impossible, to do this without relying on some sort of intermediary. You could always setup a server on one of your machines to handle these services but that's unnecessarily complex.

Things like calendar and contacts are going to be hard to sync if you don't use a cloud service. It can be done but may be tedious or may require the purchase of applications. For instance, BusySync has LAN syncing for iCal.
 
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Secondary question: I can't seem to find the iSync app in my applications on my MBA running Lion, however the little circle (iSync icon) is present on my menu bar at the top of the screen. Is the app even there?

No, it's not. It's just a vestige from your preferences carried over from the Snow Leopard machine.
 
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Ah I see.

Wow, for Apple who pride themselves on doing everything in a simple and easy manner and consumer friendly, it seems a very complicated matter to sync my 2 laptops...
 
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chas_m

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iCloud does everything you've specified you want synced. For free. Why you don't want to use the cloud is your own business, but it's not exactly typical now is it?

Just because the first person to answer you didn't happen to know of a non-cloud answer doesn't mean it's impossible. Kinda jumping to conclusions a tad hastily, don't you think?

Here's a possible answer:

1. Buy or download a trial of ChronoSync or a similar program (this one happens to be highly recommended round here, but it's not the only option).

2. Try it out and generally learn it.

3. No step 3.

I sincerely hope that's "simple, easy and consumer-friendly" and meets your stated needs. Please do let us know.
 
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thanks for the alternatives chas_m! I'm now looking at all the possible options before doing anything.

The reason I don't want to become dependent on iCloud or any "cloud" services is because eventually, they maybe you pay (if you exceed space or something)...therefore I try to minimise my expenditure to a maximum.
 

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