In January, Google discontinued its "Notifier" software for Mac/PC: http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2014/01/no-more-google-notifier.html

Ever since then I've been wrestling with a variety of third-party apps and Chrome plugins without much success or consistency. They all seem to offer different behavior and levels of reliability... and I'm frustrated.

Is there any clear cut solution for either Chrome or Mac that's not bloatware and does reliable, synced notifications?

Mac would be better so that Chrome can be closed, but either works.