Airplay with old macbook

Hi folks,

This is probably a very basic question, so apologise if so, not sure how to start researching it so thought would ask.

I own a ipad2, a macbook pro and a older macbook core duo, the macbook pro does not have enough disk space to house my music library, however the older macbook has ample space and is not used for anything.

So ideally what I want to do is to be able to stream music/video FROM the macbook core duo, but actually control it from the ipad or macbook pro? Is that realistic of have I got my wires crossed on how it would work? If it is possible could anyone advice what I would have to do? I have a airport express kicking around but have not yet used it?

Many thanks for your help!

It is possible, but probably not the way you want, and not with the iPad. You can use iTunes and share the library so you can play everything on another computer. I don't think this would work for anything other than music. Another option is to share a folder and store all the content in there, this could get messy and may not work will.

I am not sure if you are confused about airplay, or if I am getting the wrong idea from what you wrote. Airplay is when you play something on your device, such as your iPad and push it to play else where from the device storing it, such as to an appletv or airport express. This is different then accessing something stored on your macbook from your macbook pro.

Your easiest and best solution is to upgrade the hard drive in your macbook pro, you can purchase something bigger and clone your current drive to the new one. You can purchase a replacement drive from newegg.com for a good price, just check the drive height, 9.5mm is standard, some of the macbook pros will take the 12mm, but not all.

the word airplay in the eyes of apple is using an apple tv module, which apple sells at apple.com,
this device can use to connect with your ipad to watch what is on your ipad to large screen tv.
When the next osx mountain lion comes out you can use your macbook pro to connect with apple tv,
do the same with ipad.
As rustyk123 suggested, it is worth invest in the new larger HD to clone your newer macbook and go from there.

Or another solution you could do, if this fits your needs, get an Apple TV. I have mine setup and I watch movies on my TV that are stored on my laptop, it also works for TV Shows and music, pretty much any media content within iTunes. You can have multiple computers connected. I used my macbook pro for about 6 months of this (heavy use), until the macbook pro failed for some reason, then I moved the information over to my old macbook and continued to use that until I purchase a new macbook pro or possibly a Mac Mini. This all works through home share.

And yet another solution is Orb TV, this will allow you to turn you macbook into a "Media Center" which stores all of your information. You can access it from any computer through a web browser (free), or through the iPhone or iPad app ($10 each, but there is a lite version but very limited) I use to use this on my custom built Media Center PC to allow me to stream recorded TV in between classes when I was in college. The only limitation that may be a problem for you is 1 Computer per account.

There is many solutions that may work for you, but I still would say that upgrading the hard drive is much easier and less trouble.