3 devices but how to use most efficiently ?

[keevill]

I'm a new AppleMac convert.
Have Ipad, Iphone 4S & MBA.
I am not sure how to use the iCloud service.

Do I get 5 GB of storage free per device or just per Apple ID ?
Stuff on one device is not necessarily required on another device.
e.g backup for Iphone 4S is required but the iCloud backup for MBA is also needed but it not the same stuff ( MBA is for work - iPhone is private )
I use Google for mail/calendar/contacts so Apple iCloud is not needed for those .
So, do I need to make 3 Apple iCloud accounts for each device ??

myiphone@icloud.com
myipad2@
mymba@
etc
?

 

[Weaselboy]

The way you described your setup/usage, you only need one iCloud account and it can be shared on all three devices. The 5GB is per AppleID and will be shared among the devices.

Even though you are using Google products, it would still be good to use the iCloud account for iOS backup and Find my Phone.

The document sync with iCloud at this point is pretty limited. You might want to try out Dropbox for that. Free 2GB account and they have OS X sync software as well as iOS apps.

 

[Macsterguy]

You can buy more storage then the 5GB if needed
You can not backup your MBA to iCloud - Use:

Time Machine for local backup to one drive

Super Duper (paid) OR Carbon Copy Cloner (free) to another drive

Use one of many online backup services

Then backup, backup, backup