Why is "MobileSync" folder so large on new MBP?

[ZZ Bottom]

I can't seem to find an answer via searching so perhaps someone can enlighten me.

I'm trying to reduce the amount of consumed space on my one week old 13" MBP for a 60gb sad, and using OmniDiskSweeper I have found that the folder ~/library/application support/MobileSync/Backup contains 14gb of data. I have not connected or backed up any iDevice to this MBP yet. I did activate iCloud with a couple sync options selected. Is this location a backup of my iPhone? The space seems too large, but perhaps it contains app backups from apps I've deleted?

In any event I don't want this room taken up, so do I need to completely avoid iCloud on this laptop, or is this folder the result of something else?

 

[Weaselboy]

That folder has nothing to do with iCloud. This folder contains the iTunes backups of your devices. There should be a folder for each device with a long gibberish name. Do not mess with these folders in Finder.

You can manage this from inside iTunes. Go to the below screen in iTunes prefs and you will see an entry for each iDevice you are backing up to iTunes. You may have old devices in there from previous iPhones or iPads you can remove from the list. You do want to keep your current device in the list for iTunes backup though.