Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

How big is your Apple ecosystem?

P

pmontanarella

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 12, 2012
321
7
Vancouver, Canada
Hi all,

Lately I've been thinking of the whole Apple ecosystem and I was wondering how big your Apple ecosystem is. How many devices do you have? How do they all integrate with each other? Personally I have a MacBook Pro and an iPhone 5 all syncing with iCloud and wifi-sync with iTunes, and the ipHone backing up each night to iCloud. I also have a Time Capsule for backups for the macbook Pro and a Airport Express I use as a wifi extender. My mom has a MacBook Pro, an iPad and an iPhone 4 and my sister also has a MacBook and an iPad. All the laptops are backing up to the time capsule and they each have iCloud to sync with each other. Lastly we have an Apple TV as a centerpiece in the living room for all media consumption and movie renting.

I'd love to hear what you guys have as an Apple ecosystem and how it works. Additionally, if you have any suggestions on how to improve even further my ecosystem please let me know, suggestions are always welcome :)

Pietro
 
About 8 weeks ago I purchased my first Apple products, and because of the fantastic ecosystem, device integration, and device quality I went all in and bought everything at once. So, my world of Apple devices now consist of a 15" rMBP 2.3/8/256, iPhone 5 32GB on Verizon, iPad 4 32GB on Verizon, iPod 7 nano 16GB, ATV 3, and a Time Capsule 2TB tying it all together along with iCloud. This is also my first crack at going all digital media consumption.

I use the rMBP as the main hub. I have ripped all my CDs (about 1,400 songs) and purchased iTunes Match. I have bought about 500 more songs, 5 movies, and 2 books from iTunes that were all downloaded to the rMBP. The phone/tablet I back up using iCloud and then sync media/photos/videos with the laptop. My first laptop sync was tethered but now when I add to the laptop media library I use WiFi sync to sync with the phone/tablet. So, I have all my music (1,900 songs) in iCloud, and on the laptop, phone, and tablet. The phone/tablet are used to stream my music collection via BT in the car or to my portable BT speakers. I use the iPod for workouts and running/biking etc. so I just keep whatever music I'm in the mood for that day on it by syncing with the laptop. The movies I watched on the ATV by WiFi streaming from the laptop, or syncing 1 at a time to a phone/tablet to watch. Music, movies, pics can be played on ATV by streaming from laptop or from iCloud, and the cloud gives me the ability to take ATV anywhere plug into a TV and connect to the net and have my media library available. I have iPhoto syncing pics/vids with the phone/tablet when I plug them in to the laptop, plus using Photo Stream. And, here on my home network everything being operated by Time Capsule doing WiFi Time Machine laptop backups, AirPrint, AirPlay, and all my devices syncing with each other flawlessly, plus providing me with rock solid speeds and connections.

Sorry for the big paragraph, but can't you tell I'm very happy with everything thus far. I've had only 2 little hiccups so far with all the Apple gear. The first being when I started the iTunes Match and having it hang twice for about 30 minutes while doing the song match process and upload missing songs, and the second being me having to reboot the Time Capsule about 5 weeks ago after updating it to the current firmware version and it initially giving me some WiFi issues, but reboot fixed it.

I've always admired Apple over the years, but for one reason or another I never bought any of their products. But when I started reading about things like iCloud, Air Play, Air Print, etc. and Apple tying it all together with all their devices and software creating the whole ecosystem. Well I couldn't resist it any longer and everything has exceeded my highest expectations. To put it simply... Digital Nirvana.
 
Nonexistent because a computer system is not an ecology.

Now that that's out of the way:

1 MacBook Pro
1 iPhone 4S
2 Hacs
2 AirPorts

It seems to do the trick :)
 
Three Macs are in our network. An iMac G4, a Power Mac G5, and my MacBook Pro. Them two iPhones that my parents have, and an iPod Touch my brother has. Finally, my iPad Mini. This doesn't count my other iPods though and unplugged machines.

And that's it.
 
Nermal said:
Nonexistent because a computer system is not an ecology.
Click to expand...

But it can be an ecosystem, as the OP stated. but just in case you want to argue the point:

Link

2.any system of interconnecting and interacting parts, as in a business: The success of Apple’s ecosystem depends on hardware/software integration. Manufacturers, retailers, and customers are all part of the automotive industry’s ecosystem.
Click to expand...

Macbook Air
Airport Extreme
iPhone 5
Apple TV
 
Last edited:
Between me and the wife....

iPhone x2
iPad x2
MBP x1
Mac Mini x1
Airport Extreme x1
Apple TV x3

All DVDs are ripped and served through the house on the Mini through iTunes. iCloud syncs a good chunk of the data.
 
eric/ said:
But it can be an ecosystem, as the OP stated. but just in case you want to argue the point:

Link
Click to expand...

Well if you really want me to argue then I'll point out that the Oxford dictionary provided in OS X lacks that definition :p

ecosystem |ˈiːkəʊsɪstəm|
nounEcology
a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment.
 
Mac Pro
iPhone 5
iPad 4
Apple TV

That about sums it up for me. It's time for a new Mac Pro this year and I'm definitely considering purchasing an iMac by the holidays.
 
MacBook Air
AirPort Extreme
3 airport express
2 Apple TV
2 iPhone 5
2 iPad mini

Actually have another AirPort Extreme and 2 old apple express I need to sell. Also iPhone 4 to sell.
 
Now

1 - iPhone 5 64gb white
1 - iPhone 5 16gb black
1 - iPhone 4S 16gb white
1 - 09 Mac Mini
1 - 27" apple cinema
1 - ipad mini white - 64gb
1 - iPad Mini blk - 16gb
1 - Late 2012 27" imac, 680mx, i7 3.4, 1tb Fusion

Had

Many MacBook pros, airs, atv2, airport extreme
 
Last edited:
1 - 8GB iPod Nano 4g (Blue)
4 - 2GB iPod shuffle 4g (Black)
4 - 32GB iPod touch 4g (Black)
1 - 64GB iPod touch 4g (Black)
2 - 64GB iPod touch 5g (Black)
1 - 8GB iPod touch 2g (Black)
1 - Apple TV 3g
1 - 64GB iPad "3" (Black)
1 - 15" 2012 MacBook Pro Retina, fully upgraded
1 - 21" 2012 iMac, fully upgraded
2 - Magic Mice
1 - Apple Wireless Keyboard
And dozens of Apple accessories like: USB SuperDrive, Apple Earpods, iPad Dock, lighting and 30-Pin cables, etc.

Plus over $2500 of iTunes purchases
 
My family in total has an iMac 21inch, I have a MBP, iPhone 4, Apple TV 3.

I really want a Time Capsule sometime to do easy TM backups, but they're pretty expensive.
 
15" rMBP
iPhone 5 x2
iPad Mini x2
7th Gen iPod Nano x2
Airport Express
3rd Gen Apple TV x3
 
Imac 2012 27"
rMBP 13"
Ipad 4
Iphone 5
ATV 3 X 2
Time Capsule
Pegasus R4

All integrated and work perfectly together. I dabbled with an Android tablet...The little N7, but just could;t find a way to work it in....I only really got it to see what Android was like.
 
I'd consider myself with my family(sis)

Macbook Pro
Apple Tv
iPad
iPhone 2x
Airport Express
iPod Classic
iPod Mini

I'm planing to purchase iPad Mini with retina display as soon as it will be launched. Also new Xbox is coming too. It will depend on my mood and features in fact. :)
 
Heavily invested, I think.

Mac Pro with 24" Cinema Display in the home studio.
MacBook Air 2012
iPad Mini 64gb 3G
iPad 2 64gb 3G
iPad 4 64gb 3G
iPhone 4 64gb
2 x Apple TV.
3 x AirPort Extreme.

The real cost has been in the machines I don't have... Since 198x.
 
Mac mini
MacBook Pro
iPad
iPhone
3 x Apple TV
AirPort Extreme
3 x iPods

All sort of integrated, but not as integrated as I'd like it to be as the MBP is running Snow Leopard and can't take advantage of iCloud. I also have to run two iTunes libraries because of the limitations of iTunes Match, so I have to juggle things around to sync everything. :(
 
Last edited:
In this house, we have (* indicates it's mine):

15" Retina MacBook Pro (2.6/16GB/512GB)*
27" iMac (3.4 i7/32GB/200GB SSD + 3TB)*
11" MacBook Air (No idea what spec)
13" MacBook Air* (work, not owned by me, i5/8gb/256gb)

iPhone 5*
iPhone 4
iPad 2 (64gb 3G)*
iPad (first gen - 32GB 3G)

AirPort Extreme*
AirPort Express*
3 x Apple TV 2nd Gen

Not including the ridiculous number of accessories, etc.
Ironically, it's not powered by a Mac server. All that stuff is dealt with on a small ESXi box running 2 VMs - debian for filesharing/backups, etc and a Windows XP install running iTunes as a media server.
 
bearing in mind 6 months ago i owned zero apple products

ipad (3rd Gen) 32GB
iPhone 4s 32GB
Apple Tv 3rd Gen
iMac late 2012
Apple Battery Charger
iPod nano (3rd Gen)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back