Network my house with a desktop?

[Onetoughmug]

We have a 13" regular aluminum macbook.

We have 2 apple TVs, 24,000 songs, 10 gigs of pictures and a ton of video. We just bought a nice Cannon HD video camera and my wife snaps photographs with her Nikon SLR on every whim. We use an USB HDD to store all the songs and video, which must be plugged in all the time. This laptop is extremely taxed and it is time add another mac.

1. What would be the best option? 2. Can macs talk to each other, i.e. share files, picture, etc.? Can the macs look as exactly the same and being able to access the files in the same place? I don't want to move my wife's cheese. 3. Do mice work like the trackpad? We love the trackpad.

It would be nice to have a faster mac to edit photographs and video. We have yet to upload video from our new camera because via USB it take forever.

 

[mstrze]

Buy a Mini...it's your cheapest option.

Macs can ABSOLUTELY talk to each other and share iTunes and iPhoto databases as well.

I have all of my iTunes media on a USB external hooked up to my Mini and it serves our AppleTV, plus my wife can access (through sharing) iTunes and iPhoto from her Macbook.

And you don't have to leave the computer 'up' all the time either. Snow Leopard features 'wake on wireless' so your computer will wake up whenever the laptop or your AppleTVs need files.

Another thing I fear, is that you don't have a backup. If this is the case, along with purchasing a new desktop/Mac, PLEASE pick up another HDD to back up everything. Time Machine is a fantastic program that works without you really having to think about it.

As for mice working like the trackpad...well...a mouse is a mouse and it moves while the trackpad is stationary. The newest Magic Mouse does have pseduo-trackpad functionality...as you can swipe your fingers across it to do things, but you still need to move it. You can buy an aftermarket tackpad I'm sure, instead of a mouse.

(You are one of the few people I have ever encountered that prefers a trackpad to a mouse. I know many, MANY people who actually carry around a mouse to use with their laptops!)