Help me with an Apple 'house'

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martyyn

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#205288 7-Nov-2016 15:52

Sorry for the generic subject but I'll try and explain the situation.

I know very little about the whole Apple ecosystem. I have an AppleTV yes, but only after my HTPC died and I needed an immediate replacement. It took me 4 hours to set the thing up after I'd dug a laptop out of the garage to install itunes and the process was far from the 'it just works' I keep hearing about.

We are all Android, Chromebooks and Spotify in my house and I couldn't be happier.

A very good friend of mine has asked for help. He knows nothing at all about tech stuff and he buys iPhones and iPads for himself and his kids and then asks me to set them up for him.

The problem is he lost his iphone6 two weeks ago and so bought an iphone7. It wasn't until he did the 'restore phone from backup' that he realised his 5GB was exhausted long ago and his backups have not been working. He would no doubt have seen a notification but not thought anything of it.

So I'm going to help him work out a plan. His old laptop still runs Vista and you can make a cup of tea in the time it boots. I could just buy an ex-lease Dell laptop, install itunes and work it out from there, but should I be considering a macbook or something ?

Does the whole Apple eco-system still revolve around itunes and is it easier with a macbook than windows laptop ? Is it possible to set up the devices to auto backup when they are connected to the laptop and have the photos be available to all devices ? Or is it even smarter than that now ?

He also has a Nikon P900 which connects via wifi, but not to Apple by the looks of it, and he wants those photos available on the ipad.

Any suggestions ? Are there any particularly good guides on the web I can read to work out what to do ?

antoniosk

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#1665143 7-Nov-2016 16:09

Its mostly revolving around icloud now, but itunes is still in the mix.

You can set things up entirely from the one device like an iphone or ipad, but of course having a computer to hand makes life a whole lot easier. The small screen on a phone alone is damned annoying.

I use a windows pc to manage even though i have access to a mac, so it's not all bad.

But it sounds like there is more than just which ecosystem to use; there is nothing in the world that is truly set and forget, and everything still requires some mainteancne. Installing to an old dell is likely to frustrate, as apple grandfathers OS support rapidly.

If youre suggesting using icloud as the core source (which is fine), is your friend on a fast unmetered connection?

________

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richms

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#1665147 7-Nov-2016 16:15

Just pay for icloud. The backup over wifi to a computer thing craps out so often its not funny, things wont just restore till plugged in and hoops jumped thru. Its IMO intentionally broken to drive people to icloud.

If they dont want pay, stop wasting your time helping.

Richard rich.ms

trig42

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#1665148 7-Nov-2016 16:17

Not sure why you needed iTunes to setup an AppleTV?

You would have needed an AppleTV, but they do not take four hours to setup.

As for iPhone backups - it is better if they are done to a computer (with the 'encrypt backup' option ticked, so that it also save passwords/SSIDs etc.). I think the iCloud backup thing is pretty good (it doesn't backup photos or music or apps, so shouldn't need a huge amount of space), but I feel it is about time Apple increased the iCloud storage to something a bit more than 5GB.

PoHq

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#1665170 7-Nov-2016 16:41

I have an all Apple house. And I mean ALL.

I haven't used iTunes for months possibly over a year now.

Music is on Spotify. Backups to iCloud. Done.

tdgeek

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#1665173 7-Nov-2016 16:46

Apple TV . Turn on. Add wifi connection. Add username and password for the Apple ID. Add apps. That's it

Oh, add Remote app for iPhone

alasta

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#1665260 7-Nov-2016 18:32

I would love to dump iTunes and move everything to iCloud, but with an ADSL upstream that maxes out at about 1mb/s it's hopeless trying to do backups to iCloud.

So, the best solution really depends on your internet connection.

tdgeek

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#1665262 7-Nov-2016 18:40

alasta:

I would love to dump iTunes and move everything to iCloud, but with an ADSL upstream that maxes out at about 1mb/s it's hopeless trying to do backups to iCloud.

So, the best solution really depends on your internet connection.

I find iTunes fine actually. I cable it to my Macbook. It does what I want it to do.] just fine. The PC version I used to use would freeze at time, then be ok. Mac version seems ok.

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danza

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#1665404 7-Nov-2016 22:40

Yeah pay for the iCloud thing for backup. That way he wont have to worry about micromanaging photo backups and if he's logged into the same iCloud account on the iphone and ipad with icloud photo library turned on, all the photos will appear on both devices after it's all backed up (automatically at night when it's plugged in).

Batman

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#1665418 7-Nov-2016 23:53

OTOH my icloud backup on ONE device never completes. itunes is a minefield but for me more reliable. but for your friend just give apple his money.

martyyn

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#1666273 9-Nov-2016 09:22

Thanks all. icloud it is :)