Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

wineandcarbs

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 2, 2008
904
137
And what is your method of syncing things between them? Do you sync everything or just select things? Just curious as I've only really used one personal computer at a time but the temptation to get a second one is strong and I know others use multiple.
 
Including work, I use four (4). Work documents are synced via MS One Drive (web interface at home, direct folder access at work) and notes are done in MS OneNote.

Everything else is synced either via Dropbox or Evernote. However I just setup my own NAS box and I am experimenting with remote access and file sharing via my NAS box. Which would lead me to drop Dropbox.
 
2. I have a 13" MacBook Pro that I use for work and a 2016 12" MacBook. I don't sync between them; I like to keep work stuff on the work one and everything else on the other one. I actually tend to keep all of my documents and what not stored on Google Drive so I don't have to keep hard copies on either laptop.
 
2. iMac at home.
Crap desktop PC at work.
I use TeamViewer when I work from Home for any of our applications that aren't cloud based.
I'll be ordering a new portable Mac for work soon though as I have to work at a new location sometimes starting soon.
 
I use 5. 1 work Windows 10 PC, 3 Macbook Pros, and an old Mac Pro.

I sync across the Macs by using iCloud Drive (2TB) and the work PC has OneDrive (1TB).

I keep a 13" 2017 MBP in my backpack which goes with me everywhere, a 2012 13" MBP in the bedroom, and a 2013 15" rMBP in the living room. The Mac Pro is mostly used for Steam or if I need to use a nice big monitor for something.
 
Antique laptop at work, which I rarely use except to access specific forms.

My own 11" MBA (maxed out, 8 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, Core i7) almost all of the rest of the time. So, two.

I used to have a 13" MBA, but I gave that away to my one of my brother's as a gift.
 
I have three. Work iMac, work/personal mbp, personal Mini/htpc. Files are generally iclouded (which also puts them on iOS) unless I only need them in one place. The rest are on the Mini as a file server.
 
Home (personally): 5 computers
1. 2006 PowerMac G5 2.5Ghz Quad, 16GB ram, 7TB (2 internal drives, 2 drives in USB dock), 6 displays, Leopard OS X 10.5.8
2. 2006 PowerMac G5 2.3Ghz Dual Core, 10GB ram, 2TB (2 internal drives), currently two displays, but video cards for 6 installed, Leopard OS X 10.5.8
3. 2003 17" PowerBook G4, 1.0Ghz, 2GB ram, 120GB HD, Leopard OS X 10.5.8
4. 2006 17" MacBook Pro, 2.18Ghz, 2GB ram, 500GB HD, Snow Leopard OS X 10.6.8
5. 2009 Lenovo Thinkpad L420, 2.5Ghz, 4GB ram, 250GB HD, Windows 7 Pro.

This does not include the other family computers.

Work: 5 computers
1. 2010 MacPro, 2.8Ghz Quad, 3GB ram, 1TB (4 internal drives), 3 displays, Yosemite 10.10.5
2. 1999 PowerMac G4, 350mhz, 192mb ram, 120GB HD, headless, Tiger OS X 10.4.11
3. 1999 PowerMac G4, 400mhz, 256mb ram, 80GB HD, 40GB HD secondary drive, headless, Leopard OS X 10.5.8
4. 2005 PowerMac G5 2.7Ghz Dual Processor, 3.5GB ram, 320GB HD, Leopard OS X 10.5.8
5. 2006 HP Pavillion a1221n 3.06Ghz, 1.5GB ram, 80GB HD, Windows 10 Pro

This does not include the server, which I administrate, nor the other computers in our building.

My PowerPC Macs do not use iMessage, or iCloud (they are too old) so anything I need to sync to all of them or transfer is done via Dropbox (which still works on PowerPC despite Dropbox dropping support). This includes my PC since I am not using iCloud on it. My MBP is also too old to use iMessage and iCloud, so Dropbox works for it as well.

The MacPro at work is not mine so I do not have iCloud/iMessage, etc running on it. Dropbox is installed however. The PowerMac G5 at work is mine so Dropbox is also installed on it.
 
Last edited:
If you count every computer I touch, that varies day to day. Today there are 4 computers on my desk at work, but only 2 are actually mine.
Work -
2015 MBA
HP EliteBook 840 G2 (this is actually a nice computer)

Home -
See my signature.

I don't sync any data from work to home (including my bookmarks in Chrome). However, I can access stuff on Google drive (though I can't write to it) from work using the web interface. The only device on which any amount of personal data co-exists with work data is my phone, and the Android at Work container keeps the work stuff walled off anyway. Oh yeah, my password manage syncs through the cloud to all computers/devices I use on a regular basis, and the data there is protected by a long alphanumeric password. I use the Mini as a server at home, it's used to download video updates from a web site, and host those files off an external drive enclosure for use on my MBP.
 
I've got 7 computers at home, and I use one at work with a largeish 1080p monitor. Nothing fancy.
 
And what is your method of syncing things between them? Do you sync everything or just select things? Just curious as I've only really used one personal computer at a time but the temptation to get a second one is strong and I know others use multiple.

Have Mac laptop, Mac mini, iOS and iPad here. Syncing between all four

5 if you count the PC :)
 
A PC laptop and an iMac, I imagine I will use OneDrive to sync the Office documents between them, but nothing else unless I can cross sync iTunes?

You could also use something like Dropbox, which is multi-platform too. I think there may be iCloud drive for PC? I can't remember though since somehow I'm heavily tied into the Apple ecosystem (product wise) and don't use iCloud. Lol.
 
Right now I'm down to one MacBook from 2010 (but doctored on, has a newish motherboard, more memory and an SSD), and a mid 2012 13" MBP bought as a refurb from Apple in 2016 with applecare, so it's under warranty until 2019. They're nice and sturdy the way the old G4 powerbooks were. And the ports,,, are nice.

Doing more on the iOS devices now except for drawing and spreadsheet work still done on the MBP. The MacBook is mostly for entertainment, either streaming movies or Apple Music.

Eventually I want a newer MBP. I had to update my iPad first though, it was 4th gen and struggling to keep up. So now I've moved the challenging apps and stuff I use most often onto the iPad Pro; the 4th gen will sit at 10.3.3 and babysit a few older apps for which there are no 64bit replacements, at least so far.
 
Last edited:
I use five.

1. Home desktop. This is my main machine and can be considered the "master" for most of my stuff.
2. Work desktop. As this is used for work, it's pretty-much independent. When I need to transfer something then email is usually suffcient as I tend to work with small files.
3. Home laptop. This one is more of a spare machine and it might be a bit disingenuous to say that I "actively" use it. Nevertheless, when I want to transfer files then I tend to do it over my local network.
4. Home server. This hosts my personal site, as well as a Subversion server for my personal development work. The site is managed via a CMS (Umbraco) and any extra files are handled via a network share.
5. Home "toy" machine: This one's for tinkering with. It doesn't run a mainstream OS and I'm not aware of any way to automatically synch files over to it. It's connected to my network and I use Subversion and shared folders when necessary.

In other words, five machines and virtually nothing to keep them all in synch :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: LizKat
I use five.

1. Home desktop. This is my main machine and can be considered the "master" for most of my stuff.
2. Work desktop. As this is used for work, it's pretty-much independent. When I need to transfer something then email is usually suffcient as I tend to work with small files.
3. Home laptop. This one is more of a spare machine and it might be a bit disingenuous to say that I "actively" use it. Nevertheless, when I want to transfer files then I tend to do it over my local network.
4. Home server. This hosts my personal site, as well as a Subversion server for my personal development work. The site is managed via a CMS (Umbraco) and any extra files are handled via a network share.
5. Home "toy" machine: This one's for tinkering with. It doesn't run a mainstream OS and I'm not aware of any way to automatically synch files over to it. It's connected to my network and I use Subversion and shared folders when necessary.

In other words, five machines and virtually nothing to keep them all in synch :)

lol sneakers and a flash drive might cover some of the gaps... and a whole pile of backup drives.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nermal
Home Desktop running windows - file server, backup drives, etc.
MacBook Pro - primary computing device
iPhone - personal communication device
Apple watch - health, notification device
Windows laptop for work
Multiple VMs for a work test bench
However, in the household is another Macbook pro - my wife's primary device.
2 Windows desktops - kids games and homework.
5 iPads - pure consumption.

I forward any needed email from work to my home account. I do very little personal on work machines.
 
I use: Dell Latitude 3480, Macbook Air 11 (2015), a Dell work PC, and an iPhone. I use Google Drive for all my data storage and Google Photos for my photos. Google Chrome syncs all my passwords, websites, bookmarks, etc... Work uses Google Apps so I have a personal gmail account that checks my work email so I get everything in one place (with a label).

I use Google Backup and Sync only on my work pc because I deal with a lot of files I want backed up. On my main Dell laptop, I just use Google Drive via the browser - same for the Macbook Air which is becoming my personal journaling/writing machine. My iPhone uses Tiny Scanner to send scanned documents to Google Drive.

All my data is backed up into OneDrive 1-2 times a year and to an external hard drive then duplicated twice (a copy goes with me everywhere and one copy stays at home) --- but my primary live data is Google Drive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: eyoungren
Just my 2015 15" MBP.

I have a Surface Pro 3 that I mostly just use when I need to restore or load a custom ROM onto one of my older Android phones.

I also have a 2013 13" MBP that I bought the summer that I bought my 2015 MBP. I rarely use it now though. Back in March I did put in a 500GB SSD and I upgraded the RAM to 16GB immediately after buying it.

My 2012 i7 Mac Mini is always on but it's used only as a server for my ATV2.
 
My iMAc at home, and two Windows 8/10 laptops at work. When I occasionally work from home I use my office's MS Office 365 account and access to the Onedrive account to get to my work files. Ironically when I got my iMac in January I bought an individual MS license (I was still with my former employer). I know this is not popular here but I can see why MS still dominate enterprise - the products and services are very complete as is support.

I sync my iPhone 7 plus with my iMac through iTunes - of course only for backups/updating smart music playlists/photos now not apps since last week.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wineandcarbs
And what is your method of syncing things between them? Do you sync everything or just select things? Just curious as I've only really used one personal computer at a time but the temptation to get a second one is strong and I know others use multiple.

I use 4 at home and a bunch of VM's and everything is synchronized.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.