Plug iPhone to Only One Mac?

[NomadicTy]

Mac and iPhone (and iPod) newbie here...

I've had an iMac for not too long and I've been using as my iPhone's 'daddy'. It was actually the iPhone that finally got me to use my mac's address book, calendar, iTunes, etc.

Now, enter my new beloved -- 15" mbp. Since the iMac have turned more into the family computer (no one seems to be getting on the old PC anymore) than MY computer, I decided to get one for MYself.

The problem is this--I finally got around to reading my Mac OS X "The Missing Manual" for Tiger, and it says not to synch your Palm, etc. with more than one computer. Supposedly, it can confuse the changes. Makes enough sense. Since the iPhone wasn't even around when this book was published, I'm thinking it could also be the case with iPhones. Would it 'confuse' the iPhone if I was to start using the mbp as the 'daddy'? Would it better to wipe out the iPhone (how to do this?) before switching daddies? I have a .mac account, so I figure I can synch through .mac my address book and calendar, wipe my iPhone clean, and then connect it to the mbp. What about my music? How do I 'properly' wipe my iPhone so I don't get dinged by DRM? Since my music will stay in the iMac, can I grabbed music from my library through the mbp?

Lots of stupid questions, I know. But I'm from the PC world and I don't understand how all these things can work together...

Thanks!

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

First, you will want to get all of the info on the MBP as you want to have on there. This could include your address book and calendars, or your iTunes library, or your iPhoto library, or all three, or any combination of them.

The iPhone is different than a standard iPod in that it can sync different types of information from different computers. For instance, I sync my music and movies with my MacBook, and my calendars, contacts, and photos with my Power Mac at work. So, you don't have to have EVERYTHING in one space.

However, you cannot have the iPhone automatically sync any one of these things with two different computers.

After you've transfered everything you want over to the MBP, plug your iPhone into the iMac one last time and tell it to sync only checked information, leaving checked only the things you want to be synced from the iMac. After that, plug it into the MBP and it will ask you if you want to sync with this computer. Say no, then check the "Only sync checked items" and check all the other information you want synced from the MBP.

It is simpler than it sounds. Also, I haven't done the process since I got my iPhone, so someone may be able to clean up any errors I've made in explaining.

Hope that helps a little.