Help with new setup

[robd54]

Hey everyone, I have been a long time iPhone/iPad user (since each came out, new one ever year like most of you) but have yet to make the switch to Macs for my computers at home. I'm considering doing this now but have a few questions for you mac gurus. I'll preface this by saying I have worked with PCs for almost 20 years, work in IT and have a solid technical background; just not with the Mac environment.
My main uses are typical of everyone, browsing the web, office, etc, however I do photography as a hobby (and slight side business for friends and family) and that's where my confusion lies.
My current set up is a desktop in the office with a 1 TB hard drive and 24" IPS monitor, and 2 laptops. I have a NAS drive in the basement with an automated backup of the desktop. I use Windows Live Mesh to sync my photo library and important files between the laptops and the desktop to assure each machine always has the latest versions and this way the latest is always backed up to the NAS drive. I also back up my photos on an external hard drive monthly.
So that's what I have. What I want is to be able to edit my photos on the laptop but have them accessible to other machines in the house (so my wife can look at them when I'm away, etc.). Maybe still keep a desktop (mini?) in the office. So what do you guys recommend? I've considered a mini with server, the NAS for time machine and a mbp for laptop but not sure how to configure this for images/redundancy and backup? Please help me build my new system Thanks!

 

[zhenya]

Your question isn't clear to me.

What hardware are you looking to keep, and what are you looking to replace?

It sounds like Live Mesh already does what you want in terms of keeping things synchronized across computers. Is Live Mesh Mac compatible? If not, it sounds like Dropbox does essentially the same thing, and could be used in place of Live Mesh.

 

[robd54]

Both the laptop and the desktop need replacing, so basically looking to start over. If someone was starting from scratch, what would you recommend to meet the needs described? Dropbox could work, but I would easily go over the limits and don't want to pay. If performance and ease of sharing would be better over a shared drive with content on a NAS or a mac mini then file syncronization wouldn't be needed. Just want to be able to edit pictures and files from either computer.

 

[wolfpuppies3]

If I was starting over I

would have a 27" iMac on my desk (new ones coming soon) and my MB Airs for portable use, using an Apple 3 TB Time Capsule as my wifi router and network back up (hourly, automatic, in the background and very painless). You could also share that as a network storage place. That Time Capsule, while a very nice integrated, sleek package is pricey and one could use the Airport Extreme with a USB connected SSD or HDD for network storage and backup.

What I have now is a Windows desktop (Wife not quite up to two OSs yet but we are working on that) speaking through an Airport Extreme wifi router extended with a remote Airport express wifi router both interconnecting with my MB Pro, and two MB Airs as well as two iPads and, of course, the iPhones. I use a 27" Apple monitor with the MBPro which serves as my desktop, she uses the HP Windows tower as her desktop.