On the data front, she needs to decide what data she wants with here at all times, and what she wants just in the house.

For music, iTunes Match is also a possibility. Set up her full normal library on an external drive/NAS and set up Match. Then create a second local library on the laptop to use for just playback.

https://www.apple.com/itunes/inside-itun...rs-and-you.html

I think addressing the music part will take care of the main issue, since thats ~130GB. Photos at 80GB is easy to still just keep local and not mess with multiple libraries.

I personally use a NAS for the main iTunes music library, usually controlled from my Mac Mini. Then my laptop and desktop just use Match. With all the iCloud video playback, I don't have to worry about having space to hold my iTunes TV shows anymore.