Mini wont sync apps on mac or pc

[v_lestat]

PARTIALLY SOLVED Mini wont sync apps on mac or pc

So i been loving my mini over my ipad 2 and original ipad but i have a serious issue.
on my MBA and Mac Mini and my Win7 PC the Mini will not sync apps... ever......
nothing i do will make it work.

I am running iOS 6.0.1

Wifi sync works but apps dont sync
usb sync works but apps dont sync
restrictions on the Mini are disabled.
i have done a hard reset (pwr + home)
i have powered on and off
my ipad 2 and ipad mini are both setup on my MBA - ipad 2 apps sync just fine.
download new apps is disabled in itunes as is update apps automatically. (this is to prevent itunes from grabbing apps so that the mini doesnt have to sync.)

outside of doing a complete restore nothing has worked and all itunes does is say
"Determining apps to sync" and then it ends.

i dont want to restore simply because if there is one thing i hate about apple's restore process is that app saves are NOT downloaded and restored.
so all my game progress is lost as is any ingame purchases (if the app doesnt have the restore purchases option)

i know i sync'd to my MBA atleast once after i purhased it. probably within the first day.

but now... nothing... it wont sync.

also i just found out that itunes says there are 61 app updates available. and when i click the notification, all 61 apps are pretty much everything that is installed on my Ipad Mini.
whats odd is that those apps, as far as i could see, have already downloaded via itunes prior to me disabling automatic app download (in itunes)

why wont my Mini push the apps i have downloaded to my MBA, Mac Mini or PC itunes library.

 

[IOShowtodude]

Sorry dude that sounds like a 1-800-My-Apple problem :/ the only thing I would try is backing up again.

 

[v_lestat]

Sorry dude that sounds like a 1-800-My-Apple problem :/ the only thing I would try is backing up again.

backing up what ? the Mini?
Itunes backs it up everytime i plug it into my MBA, Mini, and PC... just the Apps wont sync.


whats even more strange is that on my brand new Mac Mini (late 2012) it said i had to Authorize the Mini on the Mac Mini or it would erase all apps off the ipad (the normal warning when syncing to a new device for the first time) and i did authorize it..... but it still never sync'd apps.....

i even unauthorized my MBA and MacMini and reauthorized them and it still wont sync.

i have read a few posts here and there about certain apps blocking syncing to itunes.. but good lord.... what app it is... god only knows.

 

[v_lestat]

OMG FINALLY!!! i got it!

ENABLE, sync Pictures....... yeah you read that right,, enable sync pictures, and my pictures sync'd and BAM! so did my apps.

seriously apple??? really?

 

[v_lestat]

Ok so my happiness didn't last long......

I tried to sync to my late 2012 Mac mini and in dice.

I have tried everything. Nothing.

This time the Mac mini said this computer is authorized to another account and I had to transfer purchases.
What?! I had backed up (minus apps) the mini several times before and never had that message.

But I am still sitting with an ipad mini that won't sync apps to the Mac mini.

I am about to give up and do a complete restore on the ipad, as in fully wipe and reload...

So frustrating I have never seen this before with any device.