User accounts question

You will have two completely separate accounts, and yes, you would have "your music", and she would "have hers", etc.

Not sure about Apple IDs. Aren't they tied into hardware as well as software?
I'm thinking this would work, but again, I've never been involved in a situation like that.

But, let me ask:
Are the two laptops Macs?
Don't give them up even if you get a desktop!

Also, are you going to be "the administrator" of the new iMac?
Or, is she?
Or, are both of you going to use "administrative" accounts?

 

Wouldn't this require having iTunes in both accounts, and not in the "main" Application Folder? (where shared apps could be)

 

My four-person family shares two Macs. We each have separate user accounts, and it all works fine. Each of us has a separate Apple ID. After logging into the Mac for one user, go to System Preferences and sign into that person's Apple ID. After logging out (or merely switching users via the menu bar) do so with the other Apple IDs. Each of the users maintains a separate iTunes library, Photos library, iCloud storage, etc. If you were to go to appleid.apple.com (I think that's the place), each Apple ID will be shown as "signed in" to the same Mac. The separate user accounts is what keeps everything straight. MacOS is a fine multi-user OS.

You do not need to move any applications out of the main /Applications folder. All user-specific stuff for an application is stored in the user's home folder Library folder.

It works great sharing a Mac -- unless you both need to use it at the same time!

 

OP wrote (about the old laptops):
"They’re both macs, but they’re 10 and 8 years old.... slow as can be!"

If they're MacBook Pros, the 8-year-old one can be EASILY upgraded to an SSD which will make it MUCH faster. This is cheap and just about anyone can do it in about 15 minutes.