Best way to switch to new laptop?

[jbischke]

Hi all. I have a 2 year old MacBook Pro that I'm experiencing a lot of lag with (iTunes stuttering, mouse delays, etc.). I've spent a fair amount of time troubleshooting and haven't come up with anything that has helped. I'm about due for a new laptop anyway and with the release of the new MacBooks I figure it's probably time to pull the trigger.

I've spent a good deal of time configuring my system and setting up Quicksilver and everything. I'd prefer to not have to do that all over again. I have a Time Machine backup and would like to use that, if possible, to move everything over to the new machine.

Given the issue with the lag, part of me thinks a clean operating system install would be best. However, unless I'm missing something, I think that would mean having to go in and install all my apps, re-config prefs, etc. I really want to avoid that.

My thought was to try to just move everything over from the Time Machine backup and see if the new hardware fixes things. Then if not, either spend more time trying to fix the issue or do a clean reinstall and bite the bullet on reconfiguring everything.

Does that sound like the best way to proceed?

P.S. Is it as easy as it seems like it might be to move all data, apps, prefs from one machine to another using Time Machine or is it more complicated?

 

[és:]

There should be preference files in your home folder (I can't remember which folder location) for all sorts of application. If you put those files back onto your new machine after reinstalling the applications then you should have the same settings.

If you're getting lag on your old machine then try an archive and install.

 

[jbischke]

Thx!! The pref files are great but there are so many other things that I've done to customize my system that I'd love to basically just clone it to new hardware if possible.

As for the Archive & Install on my current system, I guess I'm confused about what that actually does. I read this article which helped but didn't answer all of my questions. If I do an Archive & Install will I still have all of my apps & prefs or will I need to reinstall them?